The Southern facade has no Porch. There are three large windows and three sexfoil rose windows beneath the semi-circular archways. Above these a large rose window is framed by the pinnacles of the buttresses. The carved voussoirs represent Apostles and Prophets. To the right and left of the rose window are two large statues, personifying the Church and the Synagogue. The facade terminating in a gallery of seven prophets is surmounted by a beam carved with figures of the Assumption and the whole is dominated by an Archer of wood encased in lead.
The northern façade of the transept h as three carved doors, hiding the three high windows. Scenes from the Book of Genesis adorn the curves of the great Rose window, flanked upon either side by statues of Adam and Eve.
Of the two more important doorways, one depicts saints of the Diocese, the others the Last Judgment.
The Doorways of the Saints of the Diocese has a statue of Saint Sixte, first Bishop of the Diocese, in the center. In the embrasure to the left, between an angel and his sister Sainte Eutropie, is Saint Nicaise. Whilst to the right, between Job and an angel, is the Bishop Saint Remi to whom a dove is bearing the sacred vessel. The simple and charming sculptures of the tympanum make a great contrast to the more primitive statues of an earlier period. Here is related in stone the martyrdom of Saint Nicaise, killed in front of his church by the Barbares, together with his sister Sainte Eutropie; and the Baptism of Clovis. Above are depicted episodes from the lives of Saint Remi and Job, dominated by a figure of Christ, with an angel upon either side. The voussoirs represent Popes, Bishops and Patriarchs.
The Doorway of the Last Judgment. On the central pillar is a Statue of God, the head of which was destroyed by a shell during the First World War. This statue in surrounded by statues of the apostles. To the left, St Bartholomew, St Andrew and St Peter ; to the right, Saint Paul , Saint James and Saint John . The tympanum is worthy of great admiration. It shows the Last Judgment and is dominated by Christ as the Judge, surrounded by the Virgin Mary, Saint John the Baptist and Angels bearing the Symbols of the Passion. Beneath this are scenes from the Resurrection of the Dead, and, on the two other lintels Heaven and Hell, whilst in the voussoirs are Angels, Doctors of law, wise and foolish Virgins.
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Particularly impressive by reason of the immense height (38 m) and length (139 m) of its structure, is illuminated by high and very beautiful windows and also by Rose w indows, the wonderful stained glass of which, dating from the 13th to 14th century was mostly destroyed in 1914. The Side Aisles have no Chapels and are lighted by tall Windows, from which the antique stained glass was removed in the 18th century. The inner wall of the western facade, with its unique carving (unfortunately ravaged by fire in September 1914), adds greatly to the beauty of the nave. Three doors are encircled by seven ranges of small niches ornamented with statues, separated by garlands of leaves. The lower structure, as on the exterior, has a design of carved draperies. The Chancel, with its five radiating Chapels, has only two actual bays, but verges into three bays of the Transept and two bays of the nave. |
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