ISSOIRE
. The former abbey church of Issoire (Puy-de-Dôme), dedicated to St. Austremoine, first
bishop of the Auvergne, is the largest of a homogeneous group of Romanesque churches
found within a twenty-mile radius of Clermont-Ferrand. With a sober architecture of
great formal beauty, enlivened by elegant arcading and mosaics of colored volcanic
stones, this group is characterized by a powerful “westwerk,” a continuous barrel vault
over the nave buttressed by quadrant vaults in the tribune, a multiplication of windows in
the choir, and an ambulatory with radiating chapels. Most distinctive is the treatment of
the crossing: on the interior, the dome on squinches is carried by Carolingian flying
screens (diaphragm arches) and buttressed by the high quadrant vaults of the adjacent
transept bays; on the exterior, the raised bays form an oblong lantern supporting the
tower. The ornate chevet and powerful crypt are among the most beautiful in the
Auvergne. The octagonal tower, the heavy façade, and the interior paint are 19th-century,
and the famous historiated capitals of the choir have suffered from mutilation and
restoration.
Jean M.French
Issoire (Puy-de-Dôme), Saint-
Austremoine, chevet. Photograph
courtesy of Whitney S.Stoddard.
The Encyclopedia 913