:Talk:Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume

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Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalene

The photo of the basilica has had the words "Conservative 13th century..." attached like a wart on its nose. Everywhere this photo of the building goes, its name is preceded by the words "Conservative 13th century..."! Why?

Someone had inserted the pic into the article Gothic architecture and written a blurb about its "conservative" style under the photo in a section about "decoration"!

The point is, it is not "conservative 13th century Gothic" and it doesn't show a strong backward association with the Romanesque, as otherwhere stated. So I tracked down the details.

Aha! It wasn't begun until 1295! It is only just 13th century! The building program appears to have continued, despite interruptions, to the original scheme. It was built mainly in the 14th century.

So it is indeed a conservative building to have been erected in the 14th, not the 13th, century.

However, the adjective "conservative" is just one of many that could become a permanent accretion on this magnificent edifice. And it is a virtually meaingless adjective unless the reader wishes to do a detailed analysis of architectural style. Let's try "majestic" instead, or is that too POV? ... !

--Amandajm 05:09, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

:"Magnificent" is as uninformative as "fabulous!" would be and doesn't accurately characterise a building almost without enrichments, one that is specifically "conservative in taste and sublime in effect". Rather than simply substitute one's own effusions, why not find an evocative quote and note the source in a footnote. --Wetman 05:33, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

I'm quite happy to go with "conservative in taste and sublime in effect". Can you source that one? --Amandajm 15:40, 11 July 2007 (UTC)