Note 301 — Chapter IX · The Gothic Art of Burgundy[267]

The west apse of Nevers’ Cathedral, dedicated to St. Juliette, mother of the child martyr, St. Cyr, formed, with its crypt and transept, part of the XII-century Romanesque edifice. Late in the XIII century was built a Gothic nave, which was reconstructed after a fire in 1308, and again its outer walls were reconstructed in the Flamboyant Gothic day. The present choir dates from the XIV century. The fine tower at the transept’s southern façade was built 1506 to 1528. Nevers’ former ducal palace, of the XV century, stands on a park overlooking the Loire. The Romanesque abbey church of St. Étienne, founded, tradition says, by St. Columbanus, combines the schools of Auvergne and Burgundy, and is important to archæologists because the date of its building, 1063 to 1097, is certain. The expense of constructing it caused the Count of Nevers to forego the First Crusade. Bishop Ives of Chartres consecrated the church in 1097. Congrès Archéologique, 1913, p. 300, Louis Serbat; Gaston Congny, Bourges et Nevers; J. Locquin, Nevers et Moulins (Collection, Villes d’art célèbres), (Paris, H. Laurens); Monseigneur Crosnier, Monographie de la cathédrale de Nevers (1854); Abbé Sery, Les deux apsides de la cathédrale de Nevers (1899); Morellet, Barat, et Bussière, Le Nivermois (1840), 2 vols.; Paul Meunier, Nevers historique et pittoresque (1901).