page_title: Dol Cathedral
section_title: La maîtresse-vitre du chevet
hierarchical_section_title: Dol Cathedral / "La Chapelle St-Michel" and the stained glass window depicting saint  Sebastian, saint Michel, saint Louis, and the "glorification de la Vierge" / Stained glass / La maîtresse-vitre du chevet
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Maîtresse-Vitre du Chœur de la Cathédrale Saint-Samson de Dol (35)
context_page_description: Dol-de-Bretagne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church located in Dol-de-Bretagne. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Samson, one of the founding saints of Brittany. It was formerly the seat of the Archbishop of Dol, one of the nine ancient bishoprics of Brittany. The cathedral suffered badly from the excesses of the French Revolution, becoming successively a "Temple de la Raison", then a stable, then a warehouse. Revolutionaries caused considerable damage and many treasures were lost. When it eventually returned to being a house of worship, its role as a bishopric was abolished by the Concordat of 1801 when the Dol diocese was merged into the Dioceses of Rennes and Saint-Malo. The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801 in Paris, which sought national reconciliation between revolutionaries and Catholics. The Concordat was abrogated by the law of 1905 on the separation of church and state.
  The building is notable for its eclectic mix of styles and idiosyncrasies, such as the incomplete north tower on the main west-facing entrance. The tower was begun in 1520 but never finished due to lack of funds.
context_section_description: The main stained glass window of the chevet, which is effectively the window lighting the choir, dates to between 1280 and 1290. The window was restored at the beginning of the 17th-century and was reglazed in 1870 when many of the older frames were saved by the glazier/artist Oudinot. This major restoration was commissioned by Monseigneur l'abbé Brignon.  During the 1944 bombing which preceded Dol-de-Bretagne's liberation from German occupation, explosions badly damaged the window necessitating restoration work by the master glazier Jacques Gruber. A further restoration was carried out between 1982 and 1986. The window is made up of eight lancets above which is an elaborate tympanum and these lancets contain forty-eight frames recounting details from the lives of those saints said to have relics held in the cathedral. These are a belt from Sainte-Marguerite, pieces of the chêne de Mambré, remnants of saint Samson and sainte Catherine's teeth. The eight lancets, from the left and from the top to the bottom depict:-
  The history of Margaret the Virgin or Margaret of Antioch
  The history of Abraham
  Scenes from Jesus' childhood
  The Passion.
  The Passion.
  The history of saint Samson
  Depicts the first six Archbishops of Dol, surrounded by their suffragan bishops, the bishops of Léon, Tréguier, Quimper, Vannes, Aleth and Saint-Brieuc. The Archbishops are Samson, Magloire, Saint Budoc, Saint Leucher, Saint Thuriau and Saint Genévé, each wearing a pallium a mitre and with a halo. Each carries the archbishop's cross.
  The history of Catherine of Alexandria
  The tympanum represents the Final judgement. In the quatrefoil to the right of Christ is a depiction of Paradise whilst that to the left depicts Hell with the enormous jaws of a green dragon.
caption: The chevet window
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "SP590UZ", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Version 1.0", "Image DateTime": "2010:07:30 09:44:16", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "1124", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "Image FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "148", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image GainControl": "High gain up", "Image Contrast": "Normal", "Image Saturation": "Normal", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5604", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9129", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1600", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:07:30 09:44:16", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:07:30 09:44:16", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "297/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "2639/100", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3968", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2976", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}