The façade, intact, is made up of three arcades on the ground floor, the central one serving as the entrance. It is adorned with columns and archivolts enriched with figures and foliage. These three arcades are surmounted by a band with brackets whose intervals are filled with rosettes. Between each of these arcades rises, up to the height of the first strip, a projecting pilaster which serves as a base for the columns adorning the upper part of the facade. The two central columns carry a large arch that decorates the top of the gable. Above the entrance door is a cross with columns, accompanied by two haloed statues. In the other two between columns are two arches, one of which bears two figures and contains a second arch whose bottom is pierced with two oculi. The arch on the north side contains a horse carrying a rider. Inside, the nave is barrel-vaulted, as are the side aisles. Only one arm of the transept belongs to the primitive construction. The other arm and the choir date back to the second half of the 15th century. The bell tower is placed at the north end of the transept. It is a square tower, the top floor of which is pierced on each side by a twin lancet window.
This church is a former Benedictine priory dependent on the Bassac Abbey founded at the end of the 11th century. Its construction took place in the second quarter of the 12th century.
It is one of the remarkable Romanesque buildings in Saintonge, retaining a very beautiful pointed barrel vault with regular arching, and numerous sculpted capitals.
The bell tower, the choir and the north transept were taken over in the 15th century. This change in style is particularly noticeable in the vaults and in the flamboyant tracery of the glass roof of the flat apse.
The building was classified as a historic monument in 1862. This classification made it possible to launch a restoration campaign, led by Paul Abadie, who returned its roof, removed during the Revolution, and took back many elements, replacing a certain number of sculptures.
Paul Abadie (Jr.) was born on November 9, 1812 in Paris. He entered the École des Beaux-Arts in 1835 under the direction of Mr. Achille Leclère. Participating in the architectural rediscovery of the Middle Ages, Abadie was known to be interested in the restoration of medieval monuments and buildings.
In 1845, he became second inspector of the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris, under the direction of the architects Violet le Duc and Lassus. In 1862, he was appointed diocesan architect of Saint-André Cathedral in Bordeaux. In 1872, he became general inspector of diocesan buildings, then in 1874 diocesan architect of Paris, replacing Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. In 1874 he also replaced him as architect of Notre-Dame de Paris and in 1875 he was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux Arts.
Abadie began the basilica of the Sacré Cœur, but he died during its construction, on August 3, 1884, in Chatou (Yvelines).
Apart from ecclesiastical and state commissions, Abadie is known to have accepted only one private commission, the Château de Mailleberchie, in 1875, which he designed with great detail, as a work of neo art. -complete medieval, including stone carvings, gargoyles, stained glass windows. , ironwork, wood carvings, furniture, upholstery, wall fabrics and wallpaper.
Translated by Google •
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