The Cité du Vitrail lets in the light in Troyes

About the opening to the public of the Cité du Vitrail in Troyes on 17 December.

The magical light of stained glass windows now has its own setting that shines with a thousand lights. An art gallery like no other. In Troyes, in the Aube department, La Cité du Vitrail finally reopened its doors last December after several years of work. Work that had been further delayed by the Covid pandemic and that seemed never to end. Needless to say, lovers of beautiful things were impatient! For Aube is known for its incomparable heritage: no less than 9,000 m2 of old stained glass windows, i.e. those dating from before the French Revolution, have been spared by the conflicts. More than 2,000 bay windows are now protected as Historic Monuments, almost half of which were made during the Renaissance. But to these should be added the masterpieces of contemporary art, all glass, colour and light, which can be found throughout the churches of the department, born of the association of today's master glassmakers with particularly inspired contemporary artists. "There is no need to look for an equivalent, it is absolutely unique in France and even in the West," writes Isabelle Manca-Kunert in the March issue of L'Oeil magazine.

In more than 350 civil and religious buildings, from the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral in Troyes to rural churches in the region, including private mansions, the collection of stained glass windows offers a complete panorama of the art of stained glass from the 12th to the 21st century, with exceptional representation from the 16th and 19th centuries. This richness and quality of the preserved stained glass heritage allows Aube to legitimately claim the title of "European land" of stained glass.

"This incredible density already fascinated observers under the Ancien Régime," notes the journalist. In the 18th century, one of the first historians of the art of stained glass, Pierre Le Vieil, remarked on this originality: "There is perhaps no canton in France that contains such precious and numerous painted windows as the city of Troyes in Champagne and its surroundings. It is above all the creations of the golden age of the Aube that take the lion's share at the time. This famous "beautiful 16th century", when the political and economic situation of Champagne reached its peak, offering an era of peace and prosperity conducive to artistic emulation. A true commercial crossroads, the region "became a brilliant melting pot where artists from Italy and northern Europe met, attracted by the countless construction sites that animated the territory". Where there is wealth, there are commissions for works of art... and therefore works of art for sale. Between the unmissable stained glass windows of the Sainte-Madeleine church in Troyes and the exceptional stained glass windows of Ervy-le-Châtel, where one can admire the Triumphs bay, made in 1502 and illustrating Petrarch's famous poems, there is a wide range of spectacular examples of Renaissance stained glass.

"The other singularity of the region is the extraordinary concentration of modern and contemporary creations that punctuate it, even in modest villages," notes Isabelle Manc-Kunert, citing in particular "the Mecca for lovers of contemporary stained glass, the church of Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul in Villenauxe-la-Grande", which contains twenty-four windows designed by David Tremlett, and "the stained glass windows in grisaille and silver yellow on corrugated and wired glass designed by Jean-Claude Vignes" for the church of Sainte-Agnès in Fontaine-lès-Grès. Not to mention the very recent stained glass windows signed by Fabienne Verdier for the choir of the Saint-Laurent church in Nogent-sur-Seine, where the Camille Claudel museum has devoted a fine exhibition of other works of art by the contemporary artist for the occasion.

Since the curtain has finally been raised on the treasures housed in the Cité du Vitrail, those who cross the threshold are as amazed by the quality of the works of art on display as by the educational approach. A number of didactic devices allow visitors to familiarise themselves with the unique techniques of this ancestral art, which contemporary art has not failed to take up, as shown by Kehinde Wiley's Saint-Amélie, which offers an astonishing rereading of Ingres' religious stained glass windows, integrating a resolutely contemporary vocabulary drawing its sources from urban culture.

Saint-Amélie de Kehinde Wiley

Entirely devoted to the art of stained glass, this new museum in the form of an atypical place that is the Cité du Vitrail has moreover taken over one of the most beautiful monuments of Troyes, in itself already a work of art in the heart of the city: the Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte. This 18th century architectural jewel has been restored to its former glory. By presenting unique stained glass windows from different periods, functions and styles, the Cité's primary mission is to dust off the image of stained glass and to make it accessible to the greatest number of people, in its many stylistic, historical, technical and iconographic aspects.

The tour of the permanent exhibition begins on the third floor of the Hôtel-Dieu with the discovery of the development and execution of a stained glass window on a time scale. To do this, a master glassmaker's workshop is restored using objects from several donations, including that of the Trojan master glassmaker, Alain Vinum, while a second room deals with the history of stained glass through eleven chronological focuses illustrated with original stained glass, reproductions, tools, films, photographs and graphic documents.

The second floor, bathed in natural light, offers the visitor a space for contemplation following a chronological framework in which the glass works of art are confronted. At eye level, the diversity of the stained glass windows on display, including some very large formats, conveys all the richness and abundance of this art form, which crosses the centuries and is continually renewed. A smaller room houses the "masterpiece": the oldest stained glass window in the Cité du Vitrail's collection, a panel from Troy at the end of the 12th century, miraculously found in 2018 after a thousand adventures. But we will not fail to notice the Angel by René Lalique, which radiates a soft amber light. And it will be seen that the art of stained glass is not necessarily associated with religious art, especially when admiring the only surviving glass window from a cycle of windows made to decorate the Palais du Trocadero for the 1878 Universal Exhibition, illustrating the history of industrial arts.

The first floor of the tour includes the three large temporary exhibition rooms, restored and fitted out since 2015. They host thematic and monographic exhibitions on stained glass, alternating with other cultural exhibitions organised by the Department. But the Hôtel-Dieu also has other surprises in store along the way, such as the sacristy, which exhibits some of the chapel's small furniture - lights, Christ on the Cross, fragments of stained glass and archive documents - in the authentic liturgical furniture, restored and adapted for a museum presentation. Or the chapel, entirely redecorated between 1862 and 1866, which magnificently concludes the tour. All the wall paintings, woodwork, small furniture and the stained glass in the choir have been restored. The six large windows of the chapel now house monumental old or contemporary stained glass windows, with natural light. The spectacular stained glass windows designed for Notre-Dame-de-Paris in the 1930s, for example, are finally on display after being kept in a box for decades!

During the permanent tour, the visitor also has the opportunity to discover the history of the site in some of the most important places, including the garden, which has been redesigned in the spirit of the 19th century hospital. The Apothecary's, one of the most beautiful in France, is not to be missed: this large room, listed as a Historic Monument, houses an exceptional collection of earthenware pots and painted wooden pharmaceutical boxes from the 18th and 19th centuries. Managed by the City of Troyes' museum centre, its scenography has been redesigned in line with the Cité du Vitrail project, while preserving its authentic character. The laboratory, a room adjoining the large room of the Apothecary's, vaulted with arches and decorated with mosaics on the floor, which was used to prepare remedies, is also still there. It is now dedicated to the history of the Hôtel-Dieu since its foundation in 1157 by Henry I the Liberal, and presents a vast collection of objects evoking the history of the place (clysters, layette cupboard, reliquaries, etc.), as well as films on the architectural and functional evolution of the building.

l’Apothicairerie

Visuals :
- General view of the Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte © Studio OG
- Kehinde Wiley (born 1977), Saint Amelie, 2014. Stained glass, 251 x 115 cm. Paris, Templon Gallery. Photo service de presse © Kehinde Wiley Studio - cliché Elsa Viollet
- Apothecary of the Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte © Carole Bell, Ville de Troyes