The ST Romain de CARTELEGUE church is in the Roman Saintongeais style. The initial plan is composed of a single nave ending in a flat chevet, a square bell tower, and a side aisle to the north.
In the Classical Middle Ages, it was one of the few priories of Cluny in Aquitaine subsequently attached to the Benedictine abbey of Saint Sauveur de Blaye. Its position near a main road may explain its troubled history and the many changes that have affected the building.
The base of the current church is Romanesque (12th century). All that remains is the western massif in the Saintonge Romanesque style with the portal framed by two blind arcades, a cornice and a few sculpted corbels. In front of the door, remains the Romanesque paving as well as the base of two columns directly above the abutments of this portal. You can also see on this facade, two corbels that supported the roof of the porch.
The flat chevet with two bays is of Romanesque inspiration but already denotes transitional architecture (early 13th century). The building was partially destroyed at the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century. Also the rest of the building is only a series of alterations after this date. Of the original single nave, only the base of the south wall was preserved. It was revived in the 14th or 15th century. On the starry vault we can see, four black stars, perhaps the symbol of the 4 evangelists, or shooting stars that we observe in summer which are called "tears of Saint Laurent"?
The square bell tower, built (or rebuilt) in the 16th century on the south side, forms a chapel on the ground floor. From the inside, you can see a small door set into the wall, surmounted by two monolithic arches. This door, invisible from the outside nowadays, opened onto the cemetery which surrounded the church.
In the apse we discover stained glass windows from the 18th century: in the center Christ, on the left St Romain, on the right Saint Laurent and on the sides of the choir, St Louis.
The church also includes a contemporary composition of Santiago de Compostela made in 1997. The excavations of 1987 and 1996 made it possible to update burials between the 12th and 14th centuries, including those of pilgrims to Santiago de COMPOSTELLA.
The High Altar in white marble from the 18th century is decorated with painted medallions representing Christ and the four Evangelists: Matthew with the head of a man, Mark as a lion, Luke as an ox and John as an eagle.
Translated by Google •
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