Helena de Constantinople ou Sainte-Hélène, impératrice romaine et mère du premier empereur chrétien Constantine le Grand, tient un crucifix. Austère 1100s statue de pilier roman dans le portail nord de la Basilique Saint-Just à Valcabrère en Occitanie, sud-ouest de la France - une des églises françaises possédant un fragment de la vraie Croix qu'elle ramena de Jérusalem.
2832 x 2832 px | 24 x 24 cm | 9,4 x 9,4 inches | 300dpi
Date de la prise de vue:
23 décembre 2007
Lieu:
Valcabrère, Occitanie, France.
Informations supplémentaires:
Cette image peut avoir des imperfections car il s’agit d’une image historique ou de reportage.
Valcabrère, Occitanie, France: Helena of Constantinople, Roman Empress and mother of the first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, stands amongst statues of martyred saints in the entrance to the Romanesque Basilique Saint-Just-de-Valcabrère (Basilica of St Just) because the church houses a fragment of the True Cross she is said to have brought back from Jerusalem. The austere late-12th century pillar statue depicts St Helena holding a crucifix. She stands below a sculpted capital apparently showing her as a pilgrim setting out on her Holy Land quest to find the precious relic of the Crucifixion. The north portal also includes pillar statues and sculpted capitals of the first Christian martyr, St Stephen, and of two schoolboy brothers martyred by the Romans in Spain, who became the basilica’s joint patron saints. According to legend, St Pastor, 13, and St Just or Justus, seven, were arrested and beheaded after confessing to the Roman governor that they were Christians who would not sacrifice to idols. The basilica, a superb example of Romanesque architecture, stands apart from the village of Valcabrère in the Garonne Valley, below and about 1 km east of the village of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges with its Romanesque and Gothic former cathedral. The basilica was built on the burial ground of the ancient Roman city of Lugdunum Convenarum and many Gallo-Roman architectural fragments were re-used in its construction. D1145.B3666.A