Atmospheric architecture: Gregory of Tours’s use of the fear of God in Tours Cathedral and the Basilica of St Martin

Abstract

This article explores how and why Gregory of Tours encoded the fear of God into the architecture of Tours cathedral and the Basilica of St Martin. Using Gregory’s writings, in combination with the poetry of Venantius Fortunatus and the inscriptions that adorned the interior walls of the basilica, this paper argues that Gregory followed the church‐building practices of Namatius of Clermont and Perpetuus of Tours and encrypted this divine fear into the architecture of these sacred buildings in order to fulfil his pastoral duties and visually display his episcopal status.