Vence again...the cathedral

Roman tomb I

Roman Tomb II

Bishop I

Bishop II

Another tomb in wall--I think

Two More Bishops

Chagall Mosaic

Another carving in wall

So the cathedral in Vence is a strange place. In the first instance, it is the smallest cathedral in France (by number of people served). Secondly, it is built on the site of a Roman temple, and has Roman carvings and roman tombs in its fabric.  Problems again with placement of photos; I will comment on them in order.

The photos marked Roman tomb I and Roman tomb II are imbedded in either side of the door to the church.

Next consider the photos labeled "Bishop I" and "Bishop II". They have names but I don't remember what they were. Both look VERY young, and were displayed next to each other. Try to see the expression on Bishop I's mouth. He looks to me as if he had spent his entire (very short) life sucking lemons. Does NOT look like a very nice guy. Bishop II, on the other hand, appears to be saying or thinking "who, ME?" "WHAT?!? Me a Bishop?" "How did I get into this?" The paintings or frescoes of the other two bishops appear to be your average not-very-nice Bishop.

Have also included photographs of some other interesting carvings that are on the wall inside. There are more; they just aren't shown here. And there is a lovely Chagall mosaic on a wall inside the church. Marc Chagall of course spent the last years of his life in St. Paul and Vence. He was born a Hasidic Jew in Russia; I find it really fascinating that so much of his later work was in Christian churches. He and his wife are buried in the cemetery in Vence.

Another notable thing about this church (the architecture isn't all that interesting, to me at least) is the panels with the list of locals who died in WWI. I have yet to find a church in France without a memorial to the parish's war dead from WWI. There are several hundred listed in this little church in this little village. It's probably everyone from the diocese, but even so, there are SO MANY names on there. Recall, however, that 25% (TWENTY-FIVE PER CENT, that is ONE FOURTH) of ALL the males in France died during WWI. That's not 25% of all the adult males or males of draftable age, but ALL males, died in WWI. Most of them were, however, between the ages of 17 and 40; virtually an entire generation of men was wiped out. Small wonder they had no stomach for another war only 20 years later; there was no one to fight it...

Cheers, Lillie