Souvigny: Some Problems of Its Architecture and Sculpture

Abstract

One of the earliest and most important priories of Cluny, Souvigny has a complicated architectural history. The present study focuses on several problematic aspects of the monument. An examination of the evidence concerning the cult of the two Cluniac saints Mayolus and Odilo at Souvigny casts doubt on the heretofore assumed existence of a monumental tomb for the first of these two figures during the High Middle Ages, and presents a fragmentary gisant that may well come from the double tomb for the two abbots, erected in the nave of the church in the fifteenth century. A second section examines the masonry remains of the former galilee imbricated in the wall extending westward on the southern side of the present Flamboyant facade of the priory church, and speculates on the design and significance of this structure. The third part of the paper deals with the church of Notre-Dame des Avents, destroyed in the eighteenth century, which likely functioned as the infirmary chapel of the monastery. Some general observations on Souvigny's architectural history and its relation to Cluny are offered in conclusion.