Conférence "La Porte des bleds à Notre-Dame de Semur-en-Auxois"

The Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame in Semur-en-Auxois is a superb church, built mainly in the 13th and 14th centuries. While its architecture is well preserved, as are its interior ornaments, the sculpted decorations that once adorned its exterior suffered greatly during the French Revolution.

Only the north portal of the transept, known as the "Porte des bleds", still has its sculptures. While the archway illustrates the months of the year, the tympanum narrates the story of Saint Thomas, a theme rarely represented in this period. After the famous and easily identifiable episode of incredulity, the sculptor developed the apostle's journey to the Indies, which was much more exotic and legendary...

The nature of these sculptures and their quality mean that they can be linked to other Burgundian works from the same period, giving the outline of a group active in Auxois in the 13th century.

In a region where emphasis is placed, not without reason, on the vigour of Romanesque sculpture, and where the power of late-Gothic statuary, with Claus Sluter and his followers, is rightly celebrated, this "côte-d'orien" nucleus fills a kind of void, illustrating the dynamism of an artistic movement that developed between these two prestigious phases.