PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL.
- A.—Pillar of the Nave broken in 1915.
- B.—Gallery of the old Cathedral Cloister.
- C.—Chapel in the South Arm.
- D.—Vestry Passage (statue of Virgin and Child).
- E.—St. Ruffin’s Chapel (17th century statue of the saint).
- F.—St. Valère’s Chapel (17th century statue of the saint).
The Nave before the Bombardments.
Completed about 1230, the Nave—now entirely destroyed—was regarded before the war as one of the best examples of the harmonious simplicity of early 13th century Gothic architecture.
The central vault was about 103 feet in height.
The bays were divided by columns flanked on the side facing the grand nave by a small engaged shaft. On their fine capitals, decorated with four rows of crockets or foliage, rested the large arches of the ground floor, and the groups of five small columns which supported the springing of the pointed arches of the vault.
The large arcades were surmounted by a shallow triforium and high double windows with dividing mullions.
The wide, lofty aisles with windows gave additional light to the body of the church. Their vaulting was pointed and terminated at the last bays in chapels built for the most part in the 18th century.
In the second bay of the north aisle, a gallery (B on plan), the remains of the old cathedral cloister, gave access to a large chapel (Chapelle des Œuvres) with two naves of three bays. It was the old chapter-house, built in the 13th century, by prolonging the west front but completely remodelled in the 19th century.