A Trip to the Abbey at Saint Savin in the Vienne Department of Poitou Charentes

At the start of the year friends living the other side of Civray suggested we join ‘Romagne International’-a group formed by the residents  & the environs of Romagneboth French & English (and I think it was a Dutch couple who made it International!).

They have social events throughout the year celebrating with music, food and drink at every opportunity. That, on its own was not the main attraction of the group. I think every town and village in France has a get together at the drop of a hat. I don’t think anybody who has moved out here would deny that the French don’t know how to party!

We were attracted to join because organised outings would take us to places that we otherwise may never have considered. So, for a paltry 10euros per family per annum, we became part of the group and promptly received our ‘Calendar of Events 2010’!

Winter events were Valentine’s night dances, quiz nights & Social suppers. At that point we realised the difficulty of joining a group so far away from home—particularly when there were equally good do’s in our own village—on the same night!

The summer time-table presents similar problems. We were mortified to discover we were unable to get to the ‘Guided-walk with emphasis on traditional uses of wild plants’. This was taken a couple of weeks ago by an elderly French lady of Romagne. Apparently she had put in a lot of work for the event—even writing a small booklet on the subject. About 15 French people, and 5 English joined her on her walk around the village—but so many couldn’t make it that particular day, that we are hoping for a repeat performance next spring!

At last, this week we have been able to get out with the group. A guided tour of the UNESCO world heritage site—‘L’abbaye de Saint-Savin sur Gartempe’ had been organised—and, this time we made sure that we had a free day to go off and explore!

To keep costs down, everybody drives, sharing cars whenever possible, to the various outings. Coming from further afield than everybody else we set off on our own. ‘Meet in the Abbaye car park at 10.45’ we were told. We reckoned on an hour’s drive, so, allowing for emergencies, set off at 9.30. It was a clear run all the way (do you remember all those congested roads when going anywhere in the UK?). Even so we were very nearly the last to arrive. It was market day in St Savin and the stalls under the trees in the adjoining square were very busy. We had a group photo taken—twice, for all those who blinked during the first! And then we were off!

It was at this point that I realised we had been here before!
About 5 years ago some friends took us for a day’s outing…lunch at Chauvigny, followed by a tour of the pretty village of Angles-sur Anglin, coming back through St Savin. We were unable to go around the Abbaye then as it was quite late in the day, but we did browse around the quite extensive book shop and then watched a group of elderly gents from the village playing boules in the car park.

This time we got into the Abbaye, and had an English speaking guide.

Quick history lesson!
L’abbaye de St Savin was founded under Charlemagne in the 9^th Century after the relics of the Macedonian brothers Savin & Cyprian—persecuted Christians of the 5^th century, who’d been tortured and beheaded and then buried on the banks of the River Gartempe—were found 300years later.

Substantial contributions to the construction and decorations helped to develop the site over the centuries—notably the mural paintings on the walls and ceilings. 20 Benedictine monks were installed there.
However prosperous times were followed by disasters ( 100 Years War with England in 13^th century, Wars of religion with Huguenots in 16^th century, French Revolution in 18^th century—not to mention some highly disreputable abbots!)—sackings and fires doing untold damage.
Eventually the value of the architecture and paintings was realised. Restorations were considerable in the 1960’s. In 1983 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and further restoration followed from 2003-5.

Our guide—with a small red-spot torch to point out the pictures—took us around the church telling us the history of the place and the bible-stories depicted by the different pictures. Whilst the style of the pictures were like nothing I have ever seen in a British church, the stories from the Old testament are virtually the same. I was amused, though to hear of the robin who left the Ark to find land—and there were a couple of other discrepancies!

The paintings, dating from the twelfth century—show stories from Genesis and Exodus. They have a chalky appearance and are a fresco/tempora painted directly onto the walls –coloured by yellow and red ochre and some green mixed with white and black. You can also see tiny quantities of blue pigment in the scenes, used sparingly because it was imported at great expense from Afghanistan!

After our hour’s guided tour we walked the gardens and then popped across the square where the market stalls were packing up for lunch.
So as not to swamp any one of the bars around the market that provided ‘plat du jour’, we split into 2 groups and finished a very pleasant morning with ‘canard et frites’ and a small verre de vin rouge!
It was all a very well-worth a visit. I regret not doing a bit of ‘Google’ investigation before the trip. Next time I go on such an outing I shall try to do so.

About me

I am Heather Squires we bought our house in 2002, moved over to France to live here full time in 2006 and now run Maureville Chambre D'hotes in Asnois - 5 miles south of Charroux in the Vienne department.

 
Posted by: heather squires on 14 June 2010