Cross at St. Martin Basilica / Basilique de St-Martin (Tours, France)
N 47° 23.554 E 000° 40.989
31T E 325158 N 5251392
The depicted beautiful cross with sculpture of St. Martin's charity you can find close to the St. Martin Basilica (Basilique de St-Martin), the church where is also tomb of this French patron saint...
Waymark Code: WME6EB
Location: Centre-Val-de-Loire, France
Date Posted: 04/09/2012
Views: 28
The depicted beautiful cross with sculpture of St. Martin's charity you can find close to the St. Martin Basilica (Basilique de St-Martin). The cross, made from molded cement, depicts St. Martin as a Roman rider sharing his cloak with a beggar.
The monument is signed by Henri Frederic Varenne and was erected here in year 1928.
The upper part of the monument is highly traditional, with a cross and Martin as Roman rider sitting on his horse giving the charity to poor cripple kneeling beggar. The cross with described St. Martin's charity is placed on the top of four Corinthian columns and at their heads are two another statues. The first is Perpetuus (the 6th bishop of Tours, 460-490), the builder of the first Basilica of St. Martin. The second one is St. Gregory (19th bishop of Tours, *539-594), historian of the Christians and the Franks. The columns with cross and statuary are erected on the top of prismatic pedestal decorated by two peacocks.
Beautiful neo-Byzantine St. Martin Basilica (Basilique de St-Martin) in Tours, the church where is a tomb of French patron saint - St. Martin, is one of the key Roman Catholic churches in the region and also in whole country. St. Martin Basilica is pictoresque and richly decorated neo-Byzantine structure built between 1886 and 1924 by French architect Victor Laloux.