This sanctuary undoubtedly had to suffer depredations during the various conflicts that bloodied Saintonge, as evidenced by the various reconstruction campaigns, which make the building a synthesis of Saintonge Romanesque and late Gothic styles.
The watchtower and machicolations of the southern transept bear witness to the wars of religion, which were particularly violent in the region.
A crypt built on an old underground refuge, perhaps of Celtic origin, was rediscovered in 1976.
The complex architecture of the Saint-Martin church bears witness to numerous alterations over the centuries. The oldest parts of this former Casadean possession seem to date back to the 12th century, a period which saw the flowering of many Romanesque churches in the Saintonge countryside.
The facade, high and slender, consists of two horizontal registers and is crowned with a sharp gable, which adds to its monumentality.
The lower part consists of a single arched portal, with four bare arches (the keystones having been redone in 1895) supported by small columns with capitals decorated with interlacing, sculpted faces and birds drinking from the same chalice. , or on the contrary turning away from each other.
The upper part is made up of a central bay with three arches, framed by two blind arcades, separated by a series of finely worked small columns mounted on a cornice and a fluted base and ending in candles.
The transition between this floor and the gable is formed by a series of modillions representing animals whose names the sculptor transcribed into Latin on the edge of the tablets (Leopardus, Colube) as well as a curious character sticking out his tongue, illustration of the character willingly facetious of the "ymagiers" of the Middle Ages.
The nave is made up of four bays, covered with a basket-handle vault. A series of columns with capitals devoid of any ornamentation once carried the beams supporting the primitive barrel vault, which has now disappeared. Ample broken barrel arcades punctuate its side elevations.
Transept and choir have been considerably redesigned. If the structure of the transept and the primitive pre-choir are found again, with their Romanesque capitals and their barrel vaults, the whole has been "enveloped" by Gothic additions, forcing the masonry of this part of the building to be redone. church. In fact, the square of the transept has the particularity of being surrounded by dissimilar pillars, carrying roughly assembled arches. These transformations date from 1488, the year in which a report mentions the construction of "d'ung arseau soulz the tower of the bell tower of the said place".
The vast Gothic sanctuary “doubles” the Romanesque parts. It is made up of a choir and two side chapels, all covered with ribbed vaults, which fall on culs-de-lampe representing enigmatic birds and human heads. Large ogival bays, where trilobes and quatrefoils mingle, flood this part of the building with light.
A gilded wooden altarpiece, surrounded by two Louis XV style credenzas, take place in the choir and the adjacent chapels. The central motif is "The Lamb of the Apocalypse" caught in a radiant background. This set, restored by the Beaux-Arts in 1975, was designed for the Abbaye aux Dames de Saintes.
The dome of the medieval extension of the crypt.
The entrance to the crypt is at the foot of the high altar. The latter was rediscovered in 1976 by the priest at the time, D.Héraud. Entirely carved into the rock, it seems to have been built in the 5th century, perhaps on an underground refuge of Celtic origin. Enlarged in the 12th century, it served for a long time as an ossuary.
Outside, the square bell tower rises at the crossroads of the transept, where a dome on pendentives has been fitted. Built in the 14th century, it is flanked by a "pine cone" staircase turret. Traces of fortifications (watchtower and battlements), but also of fire, testify to the fights of the wars of religion in the 16th century.
Church open daily.
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