Le Confolentais is a member of the national network of Villes et Pays Tales of the Confolentais area, Land of art and history.... Architecture spoiled by too modern Specific treatment of the bell tower- A major project in terms of d’art et d’histoire - Towns and Lands of art and history ..in the company of a guide approved by the Ministry of Culture and Communication. Land of art and history alterations. porch its size and funding The Ministry of Culture and Communication, directorate of architecture and The guide welcomes you and gives you the keys to understand the scale of The Confolentais If the church has not undergone any The restoration of the bell tower-porch The diagnosis carried out by the chief Coming together : the church heritage and regional directorates of cultural affairs, awards the label Town or a place, the development of the town from one quarter to another and the notable restorations, the interior space was carried out between 2013 and , 1841 architect of historical monuments was Land of art and history to local authorities that implement actions to promote surrounding villages. The guide knows the area perfectly and he is at your was spoiled by modern alterations : the 2014, after work had been stopped for and the abbey gardens te accompanied by a work schedule. n superimposition of disparate objects, more than a year. The masonry was The land behind the covered market, and enhance their architecture and heritage. It provides technical and financial e disposal. Do not hesitate to ask him your questions. Spread over more than 4 years, it was the electrical system, wall coatings drained and the large quantities of formerly occupied by part of the church support for these actions. The heritage promotion service organized into five major phases : har repaired with cement and the sound vegetation were removed (see photo). and the cemetery, had long remained coordinates the initiatives of Confolentais, Pays d’art et d’histoire.

It guarantees the expertise of the guides, those involved in promoting C

consolidation of the nave, exterior f and heating systems. These different without any particular use. As part of a architecture and heritage and the quality of their actions. From ancient relics to o All through the year it offers events for the inhabitants, schoolchildren restoration of the nave and the apse, elements did not follow any aesthetic move to enhance and develop the interior improvements, external 21st century architecture, the towns and lands show heritage in all its diversity. and visitors. logic, preventing a clear reading of the centre of the village and improve ves restoration of the bell tower, internal architecture of the church (see photo). access, the town council decided to Today, a network of 202 Towns and Lands of art and history of which 79 It is at your disposal for any project. restoration of the bell tower and the create a green space : the abbey Lands offers its expertise throughout . rchi If you are a group :

forecourt. gardens. A Nearby The Pays d'art et d'histoire offers visits all through the year by reservation. To complete this project, an ty n Information available at the tourist office.

archaeological diagnosis was first In the Nouvelle Aquitaine Region : the towns of Bayonne, Bergerac, u carried out. INRAP dug several Bordeaux, Cognac, La Réole, , Pau, Périgueux, Grand , o , C

trenches behind the halls and in the Rochefort, Royan, Saintes, Sarlat, Thouars ; the lands of Angoumois, Béarn r Informations, reservations : Tourist Information Point former cloister between September 24 des Gaves, Châtelleraudais, Grand Villeneuvois, Hautes Terres Corréziennes 8, rue Fontaine des Jardins -16500 Confolens - Tel. 05 45 84 22 22

and October 8, 2018. The diagnosis ette The companions of Saint James from confirmed several hypotheses. Thus, et Ventadour, Île de Ré, the Mellois en Poitou, Monts et Barrages, www.-limousine.fr - Section Pays d’Art et d’Histoire Barbezieux were responsible for one of the trenches uncovered the axial Parthenay-Gâtine, Pyrénées béarnaises, Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Ciboure, restoring the masonry and replacing the chapel, a determining factor in Vézère and Ardoise, and Gartempe. Service Patrimoine : Céline DEVEZA stones that were too damaged. The establishing the original length of the Architecture and heritage coordinator In order to restore aesthetic harmony, rammed earth of the forecourt was also church : 80m between the bell several liturgical objects have been reworked to give it a more uniform Due to the scale of the work, the towerporch and the axial chapel. The Tel : 05.45.84.14.08 placed in storage, such as the Stations appearance. church of Saint-Pierre was one of the trenches also revealed the defensive E-mail : [email protected] of the Cross. Dating from the 19th The slate roof was completely relaid. It most important restoration projects system of the village and its century, it did not fit well into the was surmounted by a new copper carried out in the Confolentais area displacement after the construction of M. MORICHON / L Romanesque architecture of the church cockerel. (including the castle of Saint-Germain). the medieval apse in the 12th century. and the iron mounting pins were The belfry in the bell tower underwent The landscaping of the gardens was Tales of rusting in the walls (see photo). a specific treatment. This concerned the Important in terms of its duration, the accompanied by the creation of a The timber frame that supports the bells. site was also important in terms of its replica of the fountain previously in the € It was placed on the ground in the cost, estimated at around 1,367 636 centre of the main courtyard (see photo). Place des Tilleuls. including tax. As it is a historical The old belfry was dismantled to make monument, the State provided 35% of way for the new structure. the funding for the work. Church of Saint-Pierre Its installation was not without The Region provided 15% and the difficulty. It required the use of a high- Department and the Municipality reach crane to unload the 65 elements contributed 25% each. The contracting that form the belfry and to raise these authority, that is to say the body which in elements to more than 40 meters above commissioned the works, was the town the ground in order to slide them into council of Lesterps. The project Similarly, the installation of the bas- the bell tower (see photo). The oak manager, carrying out the work, was reliefs and commemorative plaques has beams were then assembled in the bell the chief architect of historic been reconfigured according to tower to create the new 5 meter high monuments Mr. Dodeman. He was In addition to being landscaped, the aesthetic and structural criteria belfry. supported in his task by an auditor of abbey gardens are a place of (avoiding rusting, for example). historical monuments, in charge of remembrance dedicated to the Finally, the electrical installation was studying the estimates and the financial Righteous Among the Nations. The brought up to standard and installed so monitoring of the project. term "Righteous" designates a non-Jew as to fit into the architecture of the Restoration work began in 2008 and who saved Jews at the risk of his life. In church. was due to be completed in 2012. Lesterps, Marie-Elisabeth Lacalle - Following a halt in 2011, work Sister Saint-Cybard hid little Josie Levy resumed in 2013 and focused on the for eight months by passing her off as facades and the treatment of the bell her niece. Since 2010, Sister Saint- tower. Work finally came to an end in Cybard has been one of the 26 Justes This brochure was produced thanks to the results of the heritage inventory, the summer of 2014. of Charente. The abbey gardens were conducted between 2003 and 2006 by the Community of Communes of nd inaugurated on 22 September 2019, Confolentais and the general inventory service of the cultural heritage of the in the presence of the Ambassador of Israel, the representative of Yad Poitou- region. Vashem, the Bishop of Angoulême and To contact the service : 05.49.36.30.07 century engraving : private collection “[…] Two side galleries (…) each with two chapels adorned side galleries (…) each with two chapels adorned “[…] Two with their altars, completed the building whose immense vault was supported by pillars symmetrically and regularly placed and around which there was a gallery set into the wall (for) contemplation (and) the admiration of visitors." elected officials. http://inventaire.poitou-charentes.fr th Engraving of Léo Drouyn ; cadastral plan the church : Charente County Archives de Courcel in 1912 Plan of the church : extract a plan produced by Valentin The church before and during the work : Denis Dodeman, ACMH Bonnet, Pays de Charente Limousine The interior of the church after restoration : Yann Plans of the installation fibreglass tie rods : study be UBC Ingénierie Raising the beams of belfry : Anie Grandjean CCCL, the bell tower seen from a water point, old postcard, private Cover page : the bell tower-porch, collection. : service Pays d’art et d’histoire, C. Deveza, 2015. Revised edition 2020 Texts Graphic design and printing : Imprimerie I.G.E Edigraphic in accordance with the graphiccharter LM communiquer. Photos credits : Région Nouvelle Aquitaine, Service de l’inventaire général du patrimoine culturel, Ourry / Z. Lambert Communauté de Communes Charente Limousine C.Rome / Y. 17 Its history congregation of Sainte-Geneviève. He Its architecture The central corridor, wider than the One of the capitals is decorated with This differentiation was based on The tie rods are placed on three The abbey in Lesterps was founded at had the church restored from 1660 and others, leads to the front door of the pine cones. It would have been in the Restoration work necessary samples as well as on written sources. transverse arches, with four tie rods the end of the 10th century and given to had the conventual buildings built at the church. This door is surmounted by a monks’ choir because the pine cone is a The interior plaster was also completely per arch : two at the connection the Holy See around 1032 by the Lord same time. saddleback lintel. Without any symbol of eternity. The other capital The rules for the restoration of redone. Due to the colour of the plaster, between the nave and the aisles and of Jourdain I. The first The condition of the church gradually decoration, it appears very simple in consists of three scenes : two virgins historical monuments. the interior appears lighter and the two on the exterior walls of the aisles known abbot is Gautier, son of aknight deteriorated in the 18th century to the comparison with the portals of other with a flask of Holy Oils, Jesus coming Restoration consists in restoring to a The infiltrations were greater on the traces of damp have disappeared (see photos). of Confolens and canon regular in point that in 1738, it worship was churches. But it is the bell tower-porch out of the tomb and two beheaded monument or an object the state or the roof, where many tiles were damaged (see photo). Dorat. He took the head of the abbey a appearance which it had at a given few years after the donation of banned in favour of the church of Saint- which performs the function of guardians of the tomb (see photo). by the frost (see photo). Quentin. During the Revolution, the representation usually occupied by the The epitaph of Ramnulfe, buried inside moment in history. Often it seeks to Jourdain I and introduced the rule of make its “utilisation” or use again Saint-Augustin. canons still present were driven out. portal. the church, has been placed on the In 1040, in the absence of Gautier, who Parish activity resumed in 1803, first in Once through the door, you gain access north wall. possible. had gone on a crusade, a conflict the apse and then in the nave. Due to a wide space of about half a bay. It The transverse arch closest to the choir The restoration of a monument is opposed the count of the Marche to lack of maintenance, the apse corresponds to the location of the acts as a triumphal arch. It is raised by highly codified and it must respect Aldebert and the lord of Chabanais collapsed on 17th February 1815, gallery. one step from the nave. Secondary three major ethical principles Jourdain II. He refused to recognize the defined in the International Charter of causing the upper part of the nave to The current abbey church is made up of This is supported by a semicircular arch altars installed on the east side walls donation of 1032 and transformed the Venice (1964) : fall. The collapsed part was used as a a bell tower-porch, a nave flanked by and is set between the two staircase stand to either side of this entrance to When they were built, each building abbey into a stronghold. In retaliation, - clearness : the restorations must not stone quarry and it was not until the two side aisles and a semi-circular apse. Two staircase turrets are placed at the turrets. The one on the right of the the choir. These altars are integrated had a specific function. The west Aldebert took the abbey, killed the be confused with the original work. canons and burnt the church with the early 1850s that the ruins were cleared. The bell tower-porch located to the angles formed by the junction of the gallery gives access to the gallery while into semicircular arcades. building (in sky blue) housed the A church which suffered from - reversibility : any intervention must be inhabitants inside. The Count of the However, work was carried out on the west measures 43 m and consists of five bell tower-porch and the nave. They the one on the left leads to the vaults. The choir is has a half-dome vault. It is refectory, the dormitories and the attics. In addition, the town did not have a structural problems. able to disappear during future work Marche was excommunicated and, as a church. The engraving by Léo Drouyn levels delimited by string-courses. While have a conical stone roof (see photo). The nave and the aisles are separated divided by two string courses : a first The south building (in blue) was school house. The school (in dark The problem was situated in the vaults without leaving any traces. sign of atonement, had to finance the shows that in 1847 a wall was erected it is unique in the Confolentais area, it by three semicircular arches resting on one located under the bays and a occupied by theabbot's green) was built as an extension of the which were sagging and causing the reconstruction of the building. - respect for the original creation : in to close the nave (see photo). has similarities with other Romanesque cruciform pillars. The nave has a second one at the start of the half-dome accommodation, a door giving access church and used pillars from the old walls to lean. This structural problem is Gautier followed the work on his the absence of reliable historical bell towers-porches of Poitou-Charentes slightly lowered barrel vault supported vault. The three semicircular bays that to the cloister. The east building (in transept on its facade. The hall (in Finally, vegetation had overrun the found in many Romanesque buildings. return; he died in 1070 a few months sources, the restorer does not have the (Saint-Porchaire in Poitiers) and by three transverse arches. The side light up the choir are set between navy blue) was reserved for canons and light green) was built at right angles to roofs and buttresses of the church and The barrel vault, which is extremely before the dedication of the church. right to reconstruct a missing element. (Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat). aisles also have barrel vaults. A string- pilasters. communicates with the abbey church. the school. Both constructions were the bell tower. In addition to being a heavy, exerts great pressure on the The current nave and the first four Since the major restoration campaigns levels of the bell tower date from this The first level (ground floor) consists of course marks the start of the vault of This building was rebuilt around 1775 completed in 1855. good indicator of the moisture level in walls. A “counter-buttress” system is of the 19th century, the church in period. It was Adhemar, Gautier's three semicircular vaulted corridors. the nave. The openings pierced in the as we see it today. The school was also built to support the walls, vegetation, especially the necessary in order to distribute the Lesterps has not undergone any major successor, who completed the work. The central corridor is wider and leads walls of the side aisles are set in blind Between 1791 and 1793, the west and the east building. The architect adapted roots, destabilizes the masonry by loads evenly down to the foundations. The action of the various tie rods, The old conventual buildings works. Over time, various problems The church was extended in the middle to the door of the church. The sides are arches. The south wall is pierced with a The conventual buildings and the south buildings were sold as national the height of the school to this existing attaching itself to the binder between However, the church in Lesterps does which are invisible, limits the of the 12th century through the addition have weakened the structure of the pierced with three openings. This level door which leads to the old cloister. cloister were built around 1660 on the property. The west building was building. Indeed, the old gallery of the the stones and by exerting pressure on not have any counter-buttress system, movement of the walls. The of a Gothic choir with an ambulatory building. In order to remedy this, the corresponds to the porch and more Bas-reliefs and sculpted capitals from initiative of Abbot Charles-François de converted into common areas while the south transept and the top of its two the masonry. and under the pressure of the vaults, company UBC Ingénierie was and radiating chapels. Reserved for the town council of Lesterps called on the precisely to the narthex. Traditionally, the old collapsed choir have also been la Vieuville. They stand on the site of south building was divided into two semicircular bays are visible (see photo). It was therefore important to clean up the walls tended to lean outwards. responsible for the implementation canons, the choir was built at the chief architect of historic monuments to the narthex is associated with the reused in this wall. The bas reliefs old, undocumented buildings. dwellings. The building was not sold the stonework by draining the masonry. Cracks and deformations then appeared of this system. instigation of Father Ramnulfe. It is carry out a preliminary study. This difficult to imagine this part of the The most important works were reception of catechumens, or represent Christ in Majesty, the Virgin They mainly reflect the new and it was transformed into a rectory. Once the drainage was completed, the in the vaults (see photo). The risk, study identified the major problems to church which has now disappeared. A undertaken from 1851 to 1884 under unbaptized people. The second level is holding the blessing Child and a figure organization of the abbey with the The interior was decorated in stucco vegetation was removed to treat the ultimately, was that they would collapse. th be solved. 17 century engraving gives a probable the direction of the architect Paul blind. The third exterior level on horseback who could be Saint establishment of canons regular living which has been partially preserved. The stonework directly and repair it if reproduction (see photo). Abadie the younger. He supervised the corresponds to the first floor on the Gautier. in community buildings. Previously, the town hall for its part moved into the necessary. Zoom : A building ravaged by damp and Saint Peter, patron saint of the church. repair of the bell tower, the complete inside. Each side is pierced by a canons had individual houses. The former office of the abbot, in the After the renovation of the masonry, vegetation. restoration of the north facade, the semicircular bay set between two blind The north and south elevations are buildings are located to the south of the eastern corner of the south building. work was able to concentrate on the Damp, present throughout the building, Saint Peter is one of the apostles. raising of the nave and the construction semicircular arches. The fourth level, supported by flat buttresses. These abbey church. There were initially three In 1845, the municipality planned to plasterwork. The exterior renderings of of the semi-circular apse. In 1879, caused damage in different ways. The Jesus chose him to be the set back from the third, is blind. It buttresses mark the spans. main buildings (east, south and west) build a school and a market on the site the church underwent special following a collapse, Paul Abadie had absence of gutters led to water "foundation stone" of the Church of houses the octagonal cupola (also called Each bay is pierced to the north and forming a square around the cloister. of the old apse. At that date, the village treatment. Following various colour two supports in the vault of the nave infiltration as well as rising damp in the which he was the first pope. He was cupola over pendentives) on the first south of a semi-circular bay. The nave, The western building was destroyed in hall, located to the north of the church The remains of the west building and tests, the final choice used different replaced. walls. Stains on the vaults and peeling considered the first to baptize and th floor. It has pilasters at the angles and which is higher, projects beyond the 1901. along the main street, was in ruins (see the cloister were demolished between colours of In the 20 century, the church only plaster were signs of this (see photo). perform miracles. He died in in the centre of each face. A cornice on side aisles. It has small rectangular photo building 67). 1901 and 1902. The school was render on the underwent maintenance work. But the To deal with these weaknesses, the Rome between 64 and 67. According modillion marks the passage from the openings under the cornice. transferred to a new building after facades. Thus, building needed to be restored and the church was provided with tie rods to tradition, he was crucified upside fourth to the fifth and last level. It The semicircular apse is pierced with 1938 and the building became the render town launched a major campaign in "forming a clamp". Made of fibreglass, down because he considered himself 2008. The church encountered three corresponds to the second floor on the three semicircular bays. Two flat communal property. applied to the The abbey was besieged by the Black the tie rods are glued to the stone and unworthy to die like Christ. major problems : the vaults collapsed inside (location of the bells). buttresses support the walls between When the last priest of the parish died north elevation Prince during the Hundred Years War fixed to metal beams located under the He is often depicted as an elderly and caused the walls to lean; damp was The sides are pierced with three the bays. in 1989, the presbytery welcomed the is pinker and without any damage. In 1568, during roof frame(see photo). man with short hair and a short omnipresent and vegetation was semicircular bays with three arches Brothers of the Resurrection and then lighter than the the Wars of Religion, the Protestants beard, wearing a tunic like the other growing in the masonry and on the falling on columns with capitals. First the porch must be crossed to enter in 2000 the Sisters of Bon Secours. It is one applied to looted the abbey and set the monastic roofs; the interior layout had to be the church. It is reached by climbing no longer in use today. the south apostles. buildings on fire. It remained in ruins harmonized. four steps. The corridors of the porch elevation (see His symbols are the keys, referring for a century until the arrival of Work began in 2008 under the have semicircular vaults on transverse photo). to his role as founder of Charles-François de la Vieuville, bishop direction of the chief architect of arches. The cruciform pillars with the Church, the book and the historic monuments, Mr. Dodeman. of Rennes, in 1657. He introduced the capitals receive the transverse arches of rooster. It ended in the summer of 2014. canons regular attached to the the vaults and the arcades.