Saint Gilles

The church of Saint Gilles. Image published under the GNU Free Documentation License, verison 1.2 or later

Saint Gilles is a small town located on the northern side of the marshland plain known as the Petite Camargue, fifteen kilometres from Arles and seventeen kilometres from Nimes.

The town is named after Saint Gilles, a wealthy Athenian merchant originally known as Aepidus, who became a hermit and established a monastery there in the seventh century.

Saint Gilles is one of the fourteen Holy Helpers to whom prayers may be addressed for the alleviation of certain afflictions. In the case of Saint Gilles these are plague, epilepsy, panic, madness and nightmares. He is also the patron of cripples, beggars and breast-feeding mothers.

According to legend, Saint Gilles, the only Holy Helper not to suffer a martyr's death, was fed milk by a hind while living in a cave. A royal archer attempted to shoot the hind, but the arrow hit Saint Gilles in the leg, permanently crippling him. King Theodoric of the Visigoths, impressed by the hermit, later invited him to establish the abbey of Saint Gilles du Gard.

The abbey prospered since it was located on the via Tolosana, the road from Arles to Toulouse  which subsequently crossed the Pyrenees before joining the Via Compostelana, the main pilgrim route to Santiago de la Compostela. Pilgrimages were also made to the abbey itself  which  possessed the relics of Saint Gilles who died in 712 AD.

The abbey church of Saint Gilles, completed in 1150, was badly damaged during the religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1562 the monks were thrown into the well of the crypt and the church was sacked and set alight. The original bell tower was demolished in 1622.

However, the surviving western facade is considered one of the finest examples of Provencal Romanesque architecture and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The central portal of the Church of Saint Gilles. Image published under the GNU Free Documentation License, verison 1.2 or later

The recessed arches of the three portals are supported by  independent columns which project beyond the facade. The niches between these columns are decorated with fourteen statues of saints and apostles.

The pediments of the three portals are also decorated with bas-reliefs.  The central pediment shows Christ in His Glory, the left pediment portrays the Adoration of the Magi and the right, which is badly worn, depicts the Crucifixion.

The facade and the lintels of the three portals are also decorated with sculptural reliefs. The central lintel depicts the Last Supper, the left lintel portrays the Entrance to Jerusalem and the right lintel the Entombment of Christ.

The reliefs portray the story of Christ. Here the scourging of Christ is shown before the Crucifixion depicted on the right pediment. Image published under the GNU Free Documentation License

In 1919, the design of the portal was copied and used in the construction of Saint Bartholomew's church in Manhattan.

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