Statues You’ve Seen—But Not Like This

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All your life you’ve seen them decoratively mounted on walls or as pillars of churches all around the world. But you’ve probably never looked at statues of saints or significant religious figures with the same interest you would if you saw them exposed as art treasures in a museum. That’s just what you can do, until October 25, at a stunning  exhibition of 16th century sculpture in the city of Troyes; an hour and a bit south east of Paris by car. The exhibition, titled “Le Beau XVI,” has assembled some 95 carefully selected and restored 16th century religious sculptures — all from France’s Champagne region. In the 16th century, Champagne, and Troyes in particular, was a commercial crossroads as well as trading center for merchants and other travellers coming from Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, England and Scandinavia. It also became a leading cultural centre because the region’s abundant chalk-rich terrain provided malleable earth that simplified building construction, particularly churches, and was also easy for artists to paint and sculpt with. With the proliferation of churches, a second regional specialty, the painting of stained glass windows also took root. Today there are few areas of France so rich in sculpture and stained glass; reminders of the glories of the middle ages. Fittingly, due to its religious nature, the “Le Beau XVI” exhibit is situated, not in a museum, but in the impressive 13th century Church of Saint-Jean-au-marché. There, in 1420, England’s King Henry V and Catherine de Valois of France celebrated their marriage. That union linked the destinies of France and England in stormy and disputed fashion for nearly four centuries thereafter.  Aptly, French cultural authorities have labelled the exhibition one of not just regional but “national interest.” And justly so. In preparation for more than three years, the exhibit’s color-rich statues, a rarity, are displayed at touchable distance and eye-level for visitors. They have been re-assembled from their normal resting places, not only in the churches of the Champagne area, but also other areas of France and prestigious museums around the world. These include, among others, New York’s Metropolitan Museum, the Cleveland Museum (in the United States), the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Louvre, and the National Museum of the Middle Ages in Paris. However, Le Beau XVI exhibit is only part of the attraction of a visit to Troyes. The city itself is studded with attractive medieval beamed houses and other churches with awesome stained glass decorations. In addition, the city centre streets around the church of Saint-Jean-au-Marché, which were in the 16th century the kind of fair and market area that provided a magnet for international contact and exchanges, have become a joyful pedestrian-only area studded with shops and outdoor cafés. As tourist visits go, this one probably should have been rated not just of “national” but of “international interest.” _________________________________________________________ Le Beau XVI exhibit is open every day from 10: a.m. to 7: p.m. and Friday evenings during the month of August until 10: p.m.  Entrance fees are 4 Euros for adults but without charge for those under 18 years of age.   Please post your comments and let them flow. Register  HERE to do so if you need a user name and password.
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