Église Saint-Florentin, Gothic church in Saint-Florentin, France.
Église Saint-Florentin is a Gothic church featuring a choir, transept, and ambulatory with radiating chapels, set around an incomplete nave. The roofed sections showcase detailed stone vaults and columns, while the unfinished nave area remains visible as an open space within the building.
Construction started in 1520 as an ambitious Gothic project, but religious conflicts and money shortages stopped the work permanently. The nave remained unfinished while other parts were completed by around 1614.
The stone rood screen, or jubé, was carved in 1600 by Jean Bulion of Tonnerre for 1,100 livres tournois plus transport of materials, and is crowned on both faces by a balustrade. The 16th-century windows behind it include three scenes from the life of Saint John financed by thirteen butchers of the town. The altarpiece of the Cavaliers, dated 1536, now blocks almost all of the three apse windows.
The sources give no information on opening times or on obtaining a key, so access should be checked with the town before a visit. Inside, the 1600 stone rood screen and the 1550 colonnade around the sanctuary block the view of most of the apse windows; the three at the back of the apse are largely hidden by the 1536 altar of the cavaliers. The transept and nave windows are plain white glass apart from two restored by Levêque around 1869-1871.
The stone rood screen of 1600 was carved by Jean Bulion, a stonemason from Tonnerre, for 1,100 livres tournois plus transport of the materials. Its two faces are crowned with a balustrade. Behind it, the 1548 sculpted group of the Resurrection was badly damaged during the Revolution.
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