Choir 3

The jube "in medio ecclesiae"

An unmapped/fullscreen image of the jube screen can be found here

The medieval choir screen, installed in the 1260/70s soon after the inauguration of the new choir, was called the pulpitum in medieval sources in reference to the elevated tribune which it supported.   Modern usage favors the term jubé from the opening benediction preceding the reading of the Gospel:  Jube Domine benedicere...."Consent, Lord, to bless...."  The screen was about 6.5m high, with an arcade of seven arches supported by glistening black marble columns.  In the spandrels of the arcade sculptured images of prophets and sibyls echoed the prophetic structure of the sculptural program of the west portals.   This delicate arcade framed little rib vaults that enclosed a shallow space about 2.5m deep supporting an elevated platform or tribune accessible by means of spiral staircases.   The wider central arch enclosed a gilded ironwork gate carrying the arms of the chapter.  Set in the outermost bays of the screen against the crossing piers were two altars, one dedicated to Saint James and enshrining the relic of his chin, and the other dedicated to the Virgin.  The upper tribune was bounded by balustrades about 1.16m high.  In the panels of the west-facing balustrade were set sculptured images: the Last Judgment in the center (again, echoing the west portal) and the narrative of the Passion in the twelve niches, six on either side, running from left to right from the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem to the Descent to Limbo.   Rising high above the center was an image of the Virgin Mary standing on the moon and surrounded by radiant light.  And crowning all was an enormous (20 feet high) crucifix flanked by Mary and John.  
    The great central cross surmounting the brightly-painted, gilded and glittering screen, must have formed a visual beacon or magnet for pilgrims and visitors advancing eastward down to the nave.  This visual power was enhanced through the play of light, color, odor and spectacle.  The jubé supported 12 great chandeliers lit at Matins on major feast days and during stations in nave.  On Palm Sunday the bishop clad in a red cope would climb to the gallery to bless the palms before distribution.  Afterwards the clergy would form a procession into the streets of Amiens re-entering the choir through the central door which symbolized the gate of Jerusalem.  The head of John Baptist was displayed from the jubé on Christmas Day and the feast day of his beheading or decollation.  The chaplain of the upper treasury would ascend with the head reliquary suspended around his neck and place it for display upon a sumptuous textile draped on the tribune.  The dean would then mount and show the head to the people assembled in the nave.  On Ascension Day the bishop would bless the people with arm reliquary of Firmin, and on the Feast of Saint Honoré with that saint's arm reliquary.  And beyond this, the jubé also served for preaching and readings reading of lessons at Matins, for chanting of Epistle and Gospel on feast days, for giving absolution on Holy Thursday.  This was the dramatic heart of the cathedral and the staging point to project the liturgy to the layfolk.
    The screen was demolished in June 1755: fragments of the sculptural program are conserved in the Metropolitan Museum, the Louvre and in the Musée de Picardie in Amiens.