Memory of Stones
Saint Sernin Basilica in Toulouse
The Basilica of Saint Sernin in Toulouse is a major stopover towards Compostela. It is dedicated to Saint Saturnin (or Sernin), bishop of Toulouse in the 3rd century.
A first basilica was built in the 5th century. Faced with its dilapidation and the influx of pilgrims, it was decided to build a new one in the 11th century. Work began in 1078 under the aegis of architect Raymond Gayrard.
Pope Urban II consecrated the choir in 1096. The whole was almost finished in 1118. The chronology of the construction can be traced from the use of stone and brick. Stone prevails over brick as far as the stands.
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Brick nibbles away at the ground to take it completely into the upper parts of the nave. Stone therefore dominates in the oldest parts, namely the apse and the portals of the transept. The upper parts of the choir and the galleries of the transept are a little more recent (end of the 11th century). The nave and side aisles are from the beginning of the 12th century. Finally, the parts dominated by brick are later: they are mainly the vaults of the nave (early 14th century).
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The nave is 115 meters long. It is made up of 5 ships and its main ship is 8 meters wide. The nave has galleries on the side aisles. The height of the semicircular vault is 21 meters. It covers the nave and the transept by means of side buttresses made up of quarter-circle vaults arranged above the stands.
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The great organs of the Saint-Sernin basilica, renowned throughout the world, were completed in 1889 by the Aristide Cavaillé-Coll house. Inaugurated on April 3, 1889 by Alexandre Guilmant, the instrument has fifty-four stops spread over three keyboards and a pedalboard (ie exactly 3,458 pipes). Many pipes come from the previous organ, built by Daublaine and Callinet.
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The canons' stalls were installed between 1670 and 1676 near the choir.
Originally, they occupied a location extending to the pillar where the pulpit is located. At this place stood a rood screen delimiting the choir of canons, destroyed in 1808.
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It was from 1258 that the entire crypt was redeveloped: a large stone baldachin, Gothic style, a sort of hexagonal tower rising high in the apse, now houses the sarcophagus of Saint Saturnin. This sarcophagus was inserted in 1283 in a "large shrine in the shape of a church"
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Near the choir, the vault is decorated with the coats of arms of the archbishops of Toulouse, the cardinals of Avignon and in the center those of the popes John XXII (1316-1334) and Benedict XII (1334-1342). These coats of arms undoubtedly signify fidelity to the Holy See despite its installation in Avignon.
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