CHM and I have been to Saint-Savin together twice. The first time was in June 2006. The church was undergoing restoration work inside, so half of the interior was sealed off and not visible. We wanted to go there again in 2007 and in 2008, but before doing the drive, we called the church offices and asked for a status report. Both times, we were told that the interior was only partially open to visitors. Finally, in 2009, the work was finished, and we visited again.
I've been looking through my photos from 2006 and 2009 this morning, and here are a few of them. I discovered that I also have CHM's photos from the 2009 trip. I've processed a few, and there are many others of both his and mine that I want to edit and improve. In this post, the first photo is one that CHM took in June 2009, along with some of mine from 2006. The church steeple is 77 meters (just over 250 feet) tall.
I've been looking through my photos from 2006 and 2009 this morning, and here are a few of them. I discovered that I also have CHM's photos from the 2009 trip. I've processed a few, and there are many others of both his and mine that I want to edit and improve. In this post, the first photo is one that CHM took in June 2009, along with some of mine from 2006. The church steeple is 77 meters (just over 250 feet) tall.
CHM 2009
CHM in a church on that busy June day in 2009The Michelin Guide I have explains that the original abbey church at Saint-Savin was built in the 9th century and it was protected by a line of fortifications. That didn't stop invading Norsemen from breaking through to pillage and plunder it in the year 878. Work to build a second church on the site, the one we see today, had to wait nearly 200 years. Another couple of centuries later, the invading English and the local French fought over Saint-Savin during the 100 Years' War.
And then at the end of the French Renaissance, in the late 1500s, Saint-Savin was pillaged and plundered by both Protestant and Catholic forces during the Wars of Religion. Monks returned to Saint-Savin in about 1640, but by then many of the monastery buildings had been torn down. The church had suffered but survived, despite significant modifications and botched restoration work. It's amazing that it even exists today.
When you look at the steeple, you really wonder how it was possible to build it with the tools they had at their disposal at the time. The masons certainly were not afraid of heights.
ReplyDeleteKen, your photos are almost as good as mine ;-) Thank you for posting them. As I said in another post, I enjoy this trip in memory lane.
For the sake of accuracy, I don't think the fifth photo (mine) is Saint-Savin where there is no triforium, false or otherwise like in this photo. I have no suggestion. It's a nice shot though, if I say so myself ;-)
DeleteI think you are right. It is Fontgombault. Why would we have gone there after driving with Susan and Simon to Saint-Savin. Did they want to go to Fontgombault? You and I had been there in 2006.
DeleteFor the sake of accuracy, I can confirm that picture is of Fontgombault, and that we went there with Susan and Simon in 2009. If I had looked at my own pictures, I would have seen that, because I took a photo of you at Fontgombault. I've replaced the photo of the interior at Fontgombault with a photo of you taken when we were there in 2009. I don't think we went there in 2006 after all. We went to another church that I can't identify.
DeleteNow that you mention it, I remember going to Fontgombault with Susan and Simon, but I don't recall taking pictures there. Failing memory?
DeleteCould it be La Roche-Posay?
DeleteOn a side note, pour la petite histoire, my partner Frank, of Italian ancestry, was a practicing Catholic. Every time we visited a church he lighted a candle for his mother. After his passing in 2006, whenever I was in a chuch, I lighted a candle for him and his mother. That's what I was doing here.
ReplyDeleteSo many superlatives could be used to describe this church! Nice to see you, chm.
ReplyDeleteThe candle lighting was special. I always like seeing the candles in Catholic Churches. Your June weather looked good.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the photo of chm! Looking good! This is a nice classic Romanesque building with apses en échelon. The steeple, as remarked above, is an achievement for its time.
ReplyDeleteWell, these exterior photos are just fabulous examples of Romanesque style architecture, and I am going to incorporate them into my Cathedrals unit. I love 'em!
ReplyDeleteYour architectural photos are stunning, could be used to teach a master class. And that first one -- reaching for the heavens. Such devotion, such perseverance, and as chm said, such a head for heights.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Emm, for saying that about the photos on my blog. Sometimes I wonder if I should continue blogging...
DeleteGood photos, and good information. We are all learning so very much here. Or I am, and assume others are, too.
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