As mentioned earlier, the sacristy was constructed from the two
westernmost bays of the north aisle. Today it serves as an office and a gift
shop where you can buy souvenirs of your visit to St. Julien. Upon entering,
your attention is immediately drawn to the west wall just opposite the door. This
wall was part of the original west front of St. Julien and contains the round-arched
window that you saw on the exterior. The top of the window
and the upper part of the wall are hidden by a flat plaster ceiling, and the
rib vaults that once covered these two bays are now gone. You can still
see traces of the old vault on the wall, and on the left are left two small capitals
that once supported its ribs.
The lower part of the west wall is fitted with wooden cabinets, which drop in the
center to frame the lower part of the window. Here are displayed a cluster of
acanthus foliage capitals and an 18th-century sculpture of the Madonna and Child.
The small capitals were all carved from a single piece of stone, and it is believed that they
once formed part of a frieze on the original façade of St. Julien.
How they happened to be preserved when the rest of the façade was destroyed is unknown.The small marble sculpture of the Virgin and Child is carved in a Neoclassical style with elaborately folded drapery. The two figures seem a bit apprehensive about something, which gives a distinct feeling of tension to the whole sculpture. 
The south wall of the sacristy was originally part of the nave arcade, and
the two walled-up arches and the embedded plain capital between them can still be
seen on the interior as well as in the parvis
outside. Each walled arch is pierced by a single window with a tiny bit of colored
glass in the borders.
In the southwest corner of the sacristy, you can see two small foliage capitals,
one partially embedded in the wall with its shaft, and the other without a shaft.
These are part of the same cluster we saw
outside in the angle between the old buttress and the sacristy wall.
On a rough stone base attached to the the north wall between the
windows stands a small terracotta statue with broken arms which was dug up next
to the church during one of the 19th century renovations. The stubby male figure
is bearded and wears a mantle, armor, and crown. He is believed to represent the
Emperor Charlemagne. No one knows for certain where the statue came from
originally, but there is a story that it may have come from the Chapel
of St. Yves, a small chapel which once stood further south on the rue St. Jacques.
This chapel was used as a meeting place by the confraternity of the "Messagers"
of the Nation of France at the University of Paris. This group was responsible for
carrying messages and transporting the baggage of the students, but their patron saint was not St. Yves,
the patron saint of lawyers, but rather "Saint Charlemagne", patron saint of
scholars.The small statue below represents St. Julien of Brioude, the original patron saint for whom the church is named. He was a Roman soldier who was martyred in the 4th century. This is the end of the virtual tour. Click on one of the links below to go back to the southern exterior, or return to the index page or the main tour page. |
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St. Julien le Pauvre url: http://www.people.ku.edu/~asnow/ Webmaster: A. Snow This site last updated 04/26/2005. |
