Here are three photos of the church in Saint-Aignan, including one of the front and one of the back. The town's main street runs behind the church, so along with the church's profile on the town's skyline, this is the view of it you are likely to see first.
I say these are three photos because the second one (below) is an enlarged crop of the first. I thought the couple passing by the church was too picturesque to pass up. They were coming back from doing their market shopping and didn't appear to notice me taking the photo.
The front of the church faces away from the old town and toward the château instead. It's a massive pile of rocks, as you can see. This "soaring tower is a 19th century addition to the large Romanesque building beyond," says the Cadogan Loire guidebook.
The interior of the church was also radically "restored" in the 19th century. The most interesting part of the building is the crypt, where there are wall paintings from the 12th to 15th centuries (photos here).
The older parts of the church date back to the 11th and 12th centuries. Above is the view of the church's other enormous tower as seen from a little street just off the market square.
If what the Cadogan’s guide says is true about the clocher porche being built in the 19th century, kudos to the architect who didn’t try, as many did in that period, to build an improved pastiche, but a very sober rendition in the 12th or 13th century style.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if it's just the "cap" on top of the clocher porche that was added in the 19th century. Otherwise, why would « République Française - Libertié Egalité Fraternité » be carved into the façade. That would have been put there in the late 18th century or the very early years of the 19th I think.
DeleteYou may be right, but the carving of République française and the French motto might have been done at any time after the Révolution when the « Church » was nationalisée. It doesn’t mean some work was done on that tower or have anything to do with it.
DeleteJe te montrerai une photo demain et tu me diras ce que tu en penses.
Deletechm your comment makes me think of Viollet-le-Duc and his creative restorations.
DeleteHi, David. Viollet-le-Duc must be commended for saving a lot of buildings, which otherwise would have been lost, and Carcassonne comes to mind. But I’m not sure his reconstruction, rendition, of the Pierrefonds Castle, looks now like it really was in its prime. Sometimes he overdid himself!
DeleteThis is great info, Ken, thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteI have probably said this before but .... I would walk around pinching myself every day if I lived where you live .. the beauty of the place, the combination of ancient buildings and the beauty of the countryside. I am so glad you blog and use so many photos, at least we can enjoy that much of it. :)
ReplyDeleteThe older couple is so typical of the France I remember- thanks for snapping them.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great photo of the old couple. So French. So evocative.
ReplyDelete