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| L'abbaye de La Sauve-Majeure |
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| in the front garden |
As very little is open on a Sunday, if
we don’t got to a vide grenier or a brocante marché , then we like to take a
drive in the countryside.
On a recent Sunday we discovered the Abbaye de
La Sauve-Majeure near Créon just east of Bordeaux. This is the ruin of a Benedictine abbey founded in 1079. As the tourist office pamphlet says -" in the 12th century, the Abbeye stood at the head of 70 priories stretching from England to Aragon (Spain)", so this was a very important religious site.
Not unlike many religious buildings, the French Revolution saw La
Sauve-Majeure ransacked and the site used as a "quarry" to pilfer the
stonework to be used in building non secular buildings and private chateaux and
other buildings. Fortunately, the site has been preserved and protected in more
recent times.
It is now a world heritage listed site
so decline has been stopped thanks to government funds and the management of Monuments Nationaux. It is on one of the
Routes de Santiago de Compostela (as is Sainte Foy La Grande) so also receives
lots of visitors throughout the year. The buildings once included the church, the chapter house, the cloister, the scriptorium and the refectory all surrounded by a high stone wall.
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| the ceiling of a tower |
Some of the stone work had been restored over the centuries . On the columns are fish, plants, mermaids, demons and saints. The stonemasons certainly had a sense of humour when this place was built.
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| mermaids |
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| pine cones |
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| leaves |
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| a knight riding a lion ?? |
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| not sure what these people are up to |
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| sea monsters |
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| a medieval demon |
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| don't you love the copy of the original door ? |
The abbey and the church of St Pierre opposite are built on the top of hills and the lovely village nestles beneath on the slopes.
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| the church of St Pierre |
On Sunday the sun was shining, the trees
were in bud, the birds were singing and the lawns were full of tiny daisies. Beautiful. Families and groups of walkers had
brought picnic lunches to eat at the tables set out under the trees and overlooking
the surrounding village. And of course, there are always all those with enormous cameras (Graham included) for snapping those memorable
details of the abbey.
amicalement, mes amis
**photos courtesy of Graham ( and my little pocket camera)
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