Ambronay

Image copyright © Ministère de la Culture (France), Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine, diffusion RMN-GP, 2025

CC-BY-SA-NC-ND 4.0 = Licence Ouverte / CC-BY-SA-4.0

Results: 9 records

design element - architectural - arch or window - trefoiled - 16

Scene Description: a pair on each side of the octagonal basin

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Espirat, 2018

Image Source: digital photograph 22 June 2018 by Espirat [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baptistère_de_l'abbatiale.jpg] [accessed 8 March 2025]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

design element - architectural - arch-head - trefoiled - 8

Scene Description: one on each side of the curved underbowl

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Espirat, 2018

Image Source: digital photograph 22 June 2018 by Espirat [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baptistère_de_l'abbatiale.jpg] [accessed 8 March 2025]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

design element - motifs - trefoiled - 8

Scene Description: one in each of the spandrels of the arcade

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Espirat, 2018

Image Source: digital photograph 22 June 2018 by Espirat [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baptistère_de_l'abbatiale.jpg] [accessed 8 March 2025]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of church exterior - west façade

Scene Description: Source caption: "Abbatiale Notre-Dame Ambronay"

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Chabe01, 2018

Image Source: digital photograph 2 November 2018 by Chabe01 [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abbatiale_Notre-Dame_Ambronay_2.jpg] [accessed 8 March 2025]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of church exterior - west façade - detail

Scene Description: Source caption: "Porche de gauche, de la façade de l'abbatiale d'Ambronay. Ain"

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Espirat, 2018

Image Source: digital photograph 22 June 2018 by Espirat [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Porche_de_gauche,_de_la_façade_de_l'abbatiale.jpg] [accessed 8 March 2025]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of church exterior - west portal

Scene Description: Source caption: "Grand portail de l'abbatiale d'Ambronay. Ain"

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Espirat, 2018

Image Source: digital photograph 22 June 2018 by Espirat [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_portail_de_l'abbatiale_d'Ambronay.jpg] [accessed 8 March 2025]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of font - southeast side

Scene Description: Source caption: "Baptistère de l'abbatiale Notre-Dame d'Ambronay. Ain."

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Espirat, 2018

Image Source: digital photograph 22 June 2018 by Espirat [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baptistère_de_l'abbatiale.jpg] [accessed 8 March 2025]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of font and cover

Scene Description: Source caption: "Fonts baptismaux, vue générale"

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Ministère de la Culture (France), Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine, diffusion RMN-GP, 2025

Image Source: digital photograph 2008 by Catherine Penez [https://pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/memoire/OA001080107018] [accessed 8 March 2025]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-NC-ND 4.0 = Licence Ouverte / CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of font in context - west side

Scene Description: Source caption: " Interior of abbatiale Notre-Dame d'Ambronay." -- showing the damage to the upper rim area where a metal staple split the stone

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]

Image Source: digital photograph 13 October 2013 by Benoît Prieur [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Interior_of_abbatiale_Notre-Dame_d'Ambronay_-_Baptismal_fonts.JPG] [accessed 8 March 2025]

Copyright Instructions: CC-Zero

INFORMATION

FontID: 03011AMB
Museum and Inventory Number: temporarily at the musée de Brou [cf. FontNotes]
Church/Chapel: Eglise abbatiale Notre-Dame d'Ambronay / Église Notre-Dame dite cocathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l'Annonciation
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary
Church Location: Place de l'Abbaye, 01500 Ambronay, France -- Tel.: +33 4 74 38 74 00
Country Name: France
Location: Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Directions to Site: Located off the D36, about 55 km NE of Lyon
Font Location in Church: Inside the church [cf. FontNotes]
Century and Period: 14th century [Enlart], Medieval
Cognate Fonts: fonts at Bourg-en-Bresse, Crottet [cf. FontNotes]
Church Notes: heremitic church 7thC; destroyed by the Saracens; monastery founded ca. 803; abbey founded 11thC; modified 13th and 15thC -- listed in Mérimée [ref.: PA00116291 / 116321 for the abbatiale]: "Abbaye bénédictine des 9e et 15e siècles. Eglise Notre-Dame : 13e siècle, 15e siècle ; Tour Dauphine et tour des Archives : 1ère moitié 14e siècle ; Cloître et salle capitulaire : 15e siècle, 17e siècle. Fondée vers l'an 800, l'abbaye est rattachée à la couronne de France par le traité de Lyon, en 1601. Elle rejoint, par la suite, le courant réformateur de la Congrégation de Saint-Maur et devient un centre culturel reconnu. Son déclin s'accélère, toutefois, au 18ème siècle. La Révolution chasse les Mauristes et donne aux bâtiments de nouvelles fonctions (prison, exploitations agricoles)."
Listed by Enlart (1902) as a crude example of font from the 14th century. The font is listed in Palissy [ref.: PM01000694]: "Fonts baptismaux [...] Cuve de forme octogonale sur pied carré, fut octogonal ; décoré de 2 baies à remplages sur chaque pan coupé de la cuve ; simple forme trilobée sur la base ; couvercle en métal de forme octogonale [...] H = 111 ; d = 120 ; dimensions pied : la = 50 ; pr = 50"; the Palissy entry adds two additional notes, one about the original location and the later location: "La cuve de style gothique primitif provenant de la primitive chapelle romane fut retrouvée dans le jardin du presbytère lors de la démolition d'un mur. Transférée au musée de Brou, elle a été installée dans l'abbatiale d'Ambronay en 1987. La cuve actuellement dans l'église Notre-Dame a été trouvée dans le jardin d'un particulier, route de Jasseron, où elle servait de bac à fleurs; elle a été placée dans l'église en 1998 (pied sculpté en novembre 1997 par l'entreprise Barberot sur le modèle de celui d'Attignat)" and one about the ownership of the font cover: "Le couvercle est la propriété de l'association diocésaine de Belley-Ars." Illustrated in Mémoire [ref.: OA001080107018].

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 46.00656, 5.36179
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 46° 0′ 23.62″ N, 5° 21′ 42.44″ E
UTM: 31T 682855 5097488

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone?
Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

LID INFORMATION

Material: metal,
Apparatus: no
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Enlart, Camille, Manuel d'archéologie française depuis les temps mérovingiens jusqu'à la Renaissance, Paris: Alphonse Picard & fils, 1902
France, Ministère de la culture, Inventaire Général, Mémoire / POP : la plateforme ouverte du patrimoine (Ministère de la culture, Inventaire Général), 2024. Accessed: 2025-03-08 00:00:00. URL: https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/search/mosaic?base=%5B%22Photographies%20%28M%C3%A9moire%29%22%5D.
France, Ministère de la culture, Inventaire Général, Palissy (France, Ministère de la culture), France, Ministère de la culture. Accessed: 2025-03-08 00:00:00. URL: http://www.culture.fr/public/mistral/palissy.