Poitiers, France
photos: Dr Simon Cotton BEM CChem FRSC
Our Lady of the Keys
(Notre-Dame des Clés)
In the church Notre-Dame la Grande, 53 Place Charles de Gaulle, 86000 Poitiers, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of West-Central France, 16th century copy of Romanesque Black Madonna
Although her present incarnation is White, I include Our Lady of the Keys in this index, because Ean Begg lists her as a destroyed Black Madonna[i], because her story is such a beautiful example of typical Black Madonna material, and because a fascinating man sent me his article and photos of her.[ii]
The highly venerated statue of Notre-Dame des Clés dominates the stunningly beautiful thousand-year-old masterpiece of a sanctuary called Notre-Dame la Grande. She is enthroned on a pillar at the entrance to the choir. The pillar depicts the city, making clear: she is the Queen of this city. The present statue is a late 16th c. reproduction of the original, destroyed by Protestants in 1562 (though it survived the French Revolution). The devotion goes back to 1202, when an English army was besieging Poitiers. A collaborator got hold of the keys to the gate, to deliver them to the English; the keys disappeared and were found in the hands of Our Lady’s statue. The city was saved.
The most prominent church, bang in the center of Poitiers, isn’t the Cathedral, it is the great Romanesque church of Notre-Dame la Grande which dominates the market place. Most of what you see dates from after a consecration by the future Pope Urban II in July 1086; around 1120 the nave was extended and the magnificent sculptured façade added. Chapels were added to the nave in the 15th and 16th c. The interior was repainted in 1851, not to everyone’s taste, but close to the original Romanesque style. There are some fine furnishings, with a striking Entombment in the Italian style in the south chapel.
It is very significant that Notre-Dame des Clés is enthroned on a pillar, in a central position near the altar. Read more about it in my article on Our Lady of the Pillar, Zaragoza.
Screenshot taken from this amazing 2 minute tour of the church. It shows the breath taking beauty of this “unique treasure of Romanesque art” and why it is closed for renovations until 2027. https://youtu.be/IMovkJWbSdk
Footnotes:
[i] Listed in Ean Begg’s “The Cult of the Black Virgin”, Arkana/Penguin Books, London: 1985, p.211
[ii] Many thanks to Dr Simon Cotton BEM CChem FRSC, professor of chemistry, former churchwarden, (i.e. a lay leader under an Episcopal priest), Catholic convert, and author of many books on chemistry and articles on religion. Sources he lists:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Notre-Dame_la_Grande,_Poitiers
2. https://visitpoitiers.fr/en/activity/church-notre-dame-la-grande/