Saturday 25 April 2009

PhotoHunt: protect

I know, I said I was going to stop PhotoHunting, but here I am again. I miss it, and today's theme fits with some shots I took yesterday.

abbey church
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.

 nave
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 paintings
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.

18 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos! I am so thankful for His protection.

    Cece

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  2. WOW! what a pretty place. I love the second photo.
    happy weekend.

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  3. Wow, what a beautiful church!! And it demonstrates protection in so many ways. Great photos.

    Mine is up over at Flo's Place

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  4. 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!
    Mine is here.

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  5. What a gorgeous church. Your photos are wonderful. Love your Earth Day post too.

    Thanks for visiting mine and have a nice weekend.

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  6. 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!

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  7. I 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!
    These are lovely photos.

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  8. The ceiling and wall detailed paintings are gorgeous. Great post.

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  9. I'm soooo glad you're back Photo Hunting, A. -- and you came back with a great entry too! :)

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  10. Gorgeous shots and excellent post for this week's theme.

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  11. A great shots I agree with Adullamite the nave is fantastic.Classic Norman architecture?

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  12. so glad you're back! this is an informative piece. thanks for sharing.

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  13. Thank you all so much for your comments, and to old friends welcoming me back.

    Mike, 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.

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  14. 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.

    Beautiful photos!

    I'm a little late with my PH this week; I'm catching up after a busy weekend. :)

    Mrs. Mecomber
    http://newyorktraveler.net

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  15. Very beautiful church! The paintings are amazing! I wish to visit.

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  16. Mrs Mecomber, thanks, it's good to be back!
    ECL, it's like nothing I've seen before. I could talk all I like and still fail to explain what it's really like.

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Forethoughts, afterthoughts, any thoughts. Tell me.

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