Le visage de Sainte-Hélène, impératrice romaine et mère du premier empereur chrétien, Constantine I : Tête et épaules détail d'une statue de la fin-1100s pilier dans le portail nord de la Basilique Saint-Just à Valcabrère, Occitanie, France, une des églises françaises conservant un fragment de la vraie Croix Helena ramené de Jérusalem.
2832 x 4256 px | 24 x 36 cm | 9,4 x 14,2 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: the face of Saint Helena, Roman Empress and mother of the first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, on her pillar statue in the north portal of the Romanesque Basilique Saint-Just-de-Valcabrère (Basilica of St Just). The basilica is one of the French churches retaining a fragment of the True Cross Helena is believed to have brought back from Jerusalem. The saint holds a crucifix and the sculpted capital above her head appears to show her as a pilgrim, accompanied by a bearded servant and encouraged by a pointing angel, preparing to mount a horse as she begins her Holy Land quest to find precious relics of Christ’s Crucifixion. The St Helena statue is joined in the north portal by statues and sculpted capitals depicting the basilica’s joint patron saints, early Christian schoolboy martyrs Pastor and Justus. A fourth statue portrays St Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who was stoned to death for blasphemy. The basilica, a superb example of Romanesque architecture and art, 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. D1146.B3682
