The Façade of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard: The Visual Strategies of a Political Agenda

The sculptural program of the façade of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, whose current appearance is nearly identical to its original state, is organized around four iconographic clusters or narrative sequences corresponding to the three portals and the frieze that links them. Exegetical literature imbued the episodes depicted from the life of Christ with an ecclesiological meaning: the church is the Ecclesia, the community of the faithful, governed by spiritual and temporal powers, and whose completion is predicted for the end of time. The interpretation of the sequences is “directed” by the precise and systematic articulation of the motifs of which they are composed, suggesting that symmetries in the design of the façade correspond to semantic relationships between the subjects. The designer of the Saint-Gilles façade made narrative coherence and the demands of the iconographic tradition subservient to the goals of the patron and instigator of the project, Raymond V, count of Toulouse and lord of Saint-Gilles (1148–94). Developed by the count’s entourage and likely with the support of his wife Constance, the construction of the church aimed to reinforce Raymond V’s authority, which at that time was weakened by serious accusations of heresy. At Saint-Gilles, the designer’s political strategy consisted of recalling the participation of the counts of Toulouse in the crusades and celebrating the merits of a power dedicated to the defense of the Church and its faithful. To this end, the designer selected the Holy Sepulcher as the model for the abbey’s iconography and plan in an attempt to create the illusion of a second Jerusalem at Saint-Gilles.