Moulins. Vitraux de la Cathedrale.

Moulins. Vitraux de la Cathedrale.
France, Moulin, 1830-1850. Size 50 x 33 cm. the Sheet is worn and yellowed around the perimeter, has minor tears and losses; rare temporary spots; a trace of moisture on the right edge; in the lower right corner of the Congreve " P. A. Desrosters fils a Moulins. L ancien Bourbonnais".

[The Cathedral of the Annunciation of our lady of Moulins is the Cathedral of the diocese of Moulins.  

At the end of the middle ages, the "collegiate Church of the Bourbons" — the Church of Notre-Dame-was built on the site of the chapel of the end of the X century, originally dedicated to Saint Peter. The oldest part of the existing building was built in the flaming Gothic style and its first stone was laid in 1468 by Agnes of Burgundy, 61-year-old widow of the Bourbon Duke Charles I and mother of Duke Jean II. Construction work was completed in 1540. 

The collegiate Church received the status of a Cathedral in 1823, after the formation of the diocese of Moulins. The first Bishop, Antoine de La Grange de Pons, was engaged in the expansion of the Church, and his successor, Pierre de Dreux-Breze, was able to complete substantial construction work. He doubled the area of the nave, added two aisles and added a harmonious facade with two arrow-shaped towers 81 meters high each. These architectural additions were made in the neo-Gothic style, imitating the Gothic style of the Ile de France of the XII century, under the influence of the ideologue of this style Viollet-Le-Duc. 

The monument, which contains many works of art, is illuminated by stained-glass Windows depicting the Dukes of Bourbon, the life of Saint Catherine, the great Martyr Saint Barbara and the crucifixion of Christ. 

In our time, the Cathedral is mainly known for the fact that it houses the famous triptych "our lady in Glory", made around 1500 by an artist who for a long time could not be identified for certain, the Moulin master. Nowadays, the dominant version is that it was the Dutch artist Jean Hey. In the Cathedral, in addition to the triptych, there is also an admirable statue of the black Madonna of the XI century, as well as a sculptural group in the style of flaming Gothic, representing the biblical episode Of mourning for Christ. The Cathedral's Treasury contains a 17th-century ivory reliquary, a triptych by Aubry (French: triptyque d'aubery), and a triptych from Bethlehem attributed to the Flemish Jos van Kleve. 

The Cathedral was consecrated on October 16, 1923, and in 1949 the Church was given the title of minor Basilica. In 1875, the Church was classified as a national historic landmark.]