The church and abbey of St Savin sur Gartempe.
According to tradition, in the 5th century two brothers, Savin and Cyprien, fled to escape being killed for their Christian beliefs. They were caught and beheaded near this site. Around the year 800 their relics were found and a church dedicated to shelter these relics was founded. The church exterior is fairly plain. The spire was added in the 14th century.
The nave.
Once inside you can see the amazing 11th and 12th century paintings on the ceiling and walls. The columns are intended to look like marble.
Ceiling of the nave.
The paintings on the ceiling depict various scenes from the Bible, chosen carefully to be suitable for the variety of people below who sat in different sections of the nave: monks, postulant monks, general public.Needless to say, this treasure is protected. The site is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.
Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos! I am so thankful for His protection.
ReplyDeleteCece
Great Nave!
ReplyDeleteWOW! what a pretty place. I love the second photo.
ReplyDeletehappy weekend.
Wow, what a beautiful church!! And it demonstrates protection in so many ways. Great photos.
ReplyDeleteMine is up over at Flo's Place
I am always amazed at the gorgeous architecture of Europe and how it managed to survive with all the destruction of several world wars. Just lovely... and it should be protected!
ReplyDeleteMine is here.
What a gorgeous church. Your photos are wonderful. Love your Earth Day post too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting mine and have a nice weekend.
Marvelous church and abbey! This is a place I would want to visit. I love so much historical places. I'm always surprise to see how paintings resist since the Middle Age!
ReplyDeleteI keep saying I can't be bothered at times, but I've not missed a PhotoHunt since I started in October 2007 - just can't leave it alone!
ReplyDeleteThese are lovely photos.
The ceiling and wall detailed paintings are gorgeous. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI'm soooo glad you're back Photo Hunting, A. -- and you came back with a great entry too! :)
ReplyDeleteGorgeous shots and excellent post for this week's theme.
ReplyDeleteA great shots I agree with Adullamite the nave is fantastic.Classic Norman architecture?
ReplyDeleteso glad you're back! this is an informative piece. thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you all so much for your comments, and to old friends welcoming me back.
ReplyDeleteMike, I believe that it's Norman architecture, it certainly dates from that time, but to tell the truth I find architecture's classification hard to understand. Winchester Cathedral which I know so well doesn't, to my eye, look anything like this one and yet it is put into the same category.
Glad to see you back this week. I stopped for a while at my Travel blog, but enjoy it so much I picked it up again.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos!
I'm a little late with my PH this week; I'm catching up after a busy weekend. :)
Mrs. Mecomber
http://newyorktraveler.net
Very beautiful church! The paintings are amazing! I wish to visit.
ReplyDeleteMrs Mecomber, thanks, it's good to be back!
ReplyDeleteECL, it's like nothing I've seen before. I could talk all I like and still fail to explain what it's really like.