Laon, Notre-Dame, transept.
Photograph courtesy of Whitney
S.Stoddard.
movemented linear values of the façade design, the use of sculptural ornament reaches an
unprecedented degree of complexity and richness.
The abbey church of Saint-Martin at Laon, second in rank in the Premonstratensian
order, dates like the cathedral from the 12th century. It was begun shortly after 1150 on a
plan that has often been compared with that of early Cistercian churches. That is, it
consists of a flat chevet of two bays, a projecting transept with three contiguous eastern
chapels on each arm, and a nine-bay nave. The original plan called for rib vaults only in
the chevet and transept chapels; a campaign in the later 12th century increased the height
of the transept so that it could be vaulted at the same level as the nave, at which time
flying buttresses were added. The superficial resemblance to a Cistercian plan ends when
one examines the plan of the chevet in detail and notes that it included three altar niches,
a distinctive feature of the Aisne Valley region. Indeed, all of the details of design and
structure, from capitals and keystones to wall techniques and exterior moldings, make a
strong case for the regional vocabulary. In the end, it is only the plan of the transept and
its chapels that might have come from a Cistercian source. Even the richness of the 14th-
century façade design argues for the predominance of local traditions.
Two other 12th-century religious structures survive in Laon, the Templars church and
the chapel of the epis-copal palace, which also has a 13th-century gallery opening to the
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