) Land of art and history Tales of The Confolentais area, Land of art and history... The Confolentais ... in the company of a guide approved by the Ministry of Culture and harente C p. 88 / 2012

Communication. ( s The guide welcomes you and gives you the keys to understand the len scale of a place, the development of the town from one quarter to o nf another and the surrounding villages. The guide knows the area per- o C -

fectly and he is at your disposal. Do not hesitate to ask him your de - questions.

The heritage promotion service ermain G coordinates the initiatives of Confolentais, Pays d’art et d’histoire. All -

through the year it offers events for the inhabitants, schoolchildren aint and visitors. It is at your disposal for any project. , S

If you are a group ulanger

The « Pays d’art et d’histoire » offers visits all through the year by This brochure was produced thanks to the results of the heritage invento- o B reservation. Information available at the tourist office. ry, conducted between 2003 and 2006 by the Community of Communes of Confolentais and the general inventory service of the cultural heritage P. in of the Poitou- region. To contact the service : 05.49.36.30.07 letter http://inventaire.poitou-charentes.fr Tales 1782 of Informations, reservations : The ber

Confolens Tourist Information Point The Confolentais is a member of the national network of o 8 rue Fontaine des jardins Towns and Lands of art and history ct O 16500 - Tél. 05.45.84.22.22 The Ministry of Culture and Communication, directorate of architecture Church of Saint-Vincent www.-limousine.fr and heritage and regional directorates of cultural affairs, awards the label Rubrique Pays d’art et d’histoire Town or Land of art and history to local authorities that implement actions to promote and enhance their architecture and heritage. It provides Service Patrimoine : Céline DEVEZA technical and financial support for these actions. in Saint-Germain-de- Architecture and heritage coordinator It guarantees the expertise of the guides, those involved in promoting Tél : 05.45.84.14.08 architecture and heritage and the quality of their actions. From ancient Mail : [email protected] relics to 21st century architecture, the towns and lands show heritage in all its diversity. Confolens Today, a network of 202 Towns and Lands of art and history of which 79 Lands offers its expertise throughout . Town of Confolens Nearby In the Nouvelle Aquitaine Region : the towns of Bayonne, Bergerac, Bordeaux, Cognac, La Réole, Limoges, Pau, Périgueux, Grand Poitiers, Rochefort, Royan, Saintes, Sarlat, Thouars ; the lands of Angoumois, Béarn des Gaves, Châtelleraudais, Grand Villeneuvois, Hautes Terres Corréziennes et Ventadour, Île de Ré, the Mellois en Poitou, Monts et Barrages, Parthenay-Gâtine, Pyrénées béarnaises, Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Ciboure, Vézère and Ardoise, Vienne and Gartempe. Graphic design and printing : Imprimerie I.G.E Edigraphic in accordance with the graphic charter LM Communiquer. Photos credits : Région Nouvelle Aquitaine, Service de l’inventaire général du patrimoine culturel / C. Rome Beauquin Plan of the church : Conservation Régionale des Bâtiments de France, 1972 / Communauté de Communes Charente Limousine. old postcard, C. Rome; The apse at the turn of 20th century, Cover page : the apse today, private collection : Service Pays d’art et d’histoire, C. Deveza, 2015. Revised Edition 2017, Texts «(...) the repairs required by said parish priest ... were necessary and urgent, since the sacristy of this place which overlooks cemetery was almost entirely destroyed; that the cover of said church should be fully followed to prevent the collapse of vault (...)» Its history It has several different types of The base, or « crypt », is accessible by The church of Saint-Maurice in To find out more : Mentioned in 1185, the church of stonework as a result of modifications. a passage at the entrance to the Saint-Maurice-des-Lions and the BERLAND Jean-Marie, Les cryptes Saint-Vincent was located within These changes have made it smaller north arm of the transept. It is lit by a abbey of Saint-Pierre in are de Charente, Mémoires de la société the fortified enclosure of the castle. than it originally was. It is pierced with bay window, altered during the the only ones to have a nave and archéologique et historique de la GEORGE,Jean, Les églises de Considered until now as the castle many rectangular openings, possible Gothic period, whose lintel has an two side aisles. Charente, 1971, p. 405, note 9, France : Charente, Paris : Letouzé chapel, the recent study by The Greek cross plan of the church vestiges of the defensive purpose of incised pointed arc and a tympanum The Greek cross plan of the church p. 416- 417. et Ané, 1933, p. 239-240. Sébastien Dumasdelage suggests results in a very short nave, a wide the bell tower. with a trefoil tracery decoration (see is partly masked by the old that it was the church attended by transept, each arm opening onto an The seven-sided apse is built on the photo). presbytery which is built on to the BOULANGER Pierre, L’église de LAURIERE Jules de, Rapport the lord and the aristocratic families The cupola over pendentives which apsidiole on the eastern wall and a side of a rock. It rests on the southern transept and separated Saint-Germain-de-Confolens au sur l’excursion de la société à living in close proximity to the XIXe castle. was at the transept crossing polygonal apse with a base. foundations of an earlier apse which from the nave by a small passage. siècle, Les Amis du vieux Saint-Germain-sur-Vienne, Bulletins It was built in several stages. The probably collapsed during the Wars is semi-circular in plan and has This building was constructed in the Confolens, n°50, juin 1994, de la Société Archéologique et th arcade bases or «springers» on the of Religion and was later replaced buttress bases. It is this base that is mid-19 century by the priest p. 13-17. Historique de la Charente, 4e série, back of the facade and on the by a floor. The bell tower was also commonly called the crypt. Antoine Rolland on the site of a Id. Saint-Germain de Confolens, tome 5, 1867, p. 329-334. pillars at the entrance to the apse rebuilt, it is probably lower than previous building visible on the Quelques pages de notre histoire, seem to be the remains of an early the original bell tower. Inside, the nave is made up of a cadastral plan of 1825. p. 19. NANGLARD abbé Jean, Pouillé building. The last major works took place at single bay, a very slightly pointed Note the presence, at the foot of the Id. Un château médiéval historique du diocèse d’Angoulême, The church as we know it today the end of the 20th century. They barrel vault. church, of the town cemetery. In the à Saint-Germain-de-Confolens, Angoulême, 1894-1903, 4 vol., t. 3, th dates from the 12 century. The concerned the two arms of the A string course, including the upper middle of the 19th century, Mémoires de la société p. 33-35, p. 83, et t. 4, p. 488-490. th th apse was rebuilt in the 12 or 13 transept (1989-1990) and the roofs part of the capitals of the columns conceptions of hygiene and the fight archéologique et historique de la century, as shown by the (1991-1992). or «abacus», runs through the against epidemics led to cemeteries Charente, 1969, p. 168, 169, 174, semicircular base of the original The church has been included in the church under the springers of the being moved outside the town 185-191. apse compared to the polygonal plan of the upper part. supplementary inventory of historic vault. centres. Id., Saint-Germain-de-Confolens, The parts of the church built in monuments since 1973. It will be noted that the base of the All the Confolentais cemeteries were 2012. Zoom : Saint Vincent, large blocks of granite do not seem side walls of the nave and the The plan then transferred outside the inhabited patron saint of the church to have been altered. In places, the transept has a broad ledge in the The Saint-Vincent church has a areas, except in Montrollet, where CADET Alberte, Les saints patrons walls were repaired in ashlar work Its architecture form of a bench. Greek cross plan which is unique in the town developed away from the des églises romanes de Charente, Here we are talking about Saint at an unknown date. The church of Saint-Vincent is The transept crossing was covered the Confolentais. church, and in Saint-Germain-de- Bulletins de la société des Études Vincent of Saragossa, born in the 3th It was in the 15th or 16th century located north of the castle, on the with a cupola, of which only the The most frequent plan is indeed the Confolens, where the cemetery was folkloriques du Centre-Ouest, tome century. single nave, even if certain churches that the chapel took on the status of rocky outcrop overlooking the triangular pendentives and the base already located away from the 11, 1977, p. 281. Deacon to Bishop Valère, he a parish church. It also became the village of Saint-Germain. have a nave and a side aisle (Saint- remain today. It is now replaced by a Maxime in Confolens) or a nave inhabited area. preached and taught the faithful. He seat of a priory attached to the It is built in large blocks of granite wooden floor. The different arches, Limited in its expansion due to its DARAS Charles, Les remaniements was arrested with the bishop and Abbey of Charroux. and side chapels which were added and ashlar stone for certain The portal is on the western gable slightly pointed, rest on columns with location on the rocky outcrop, the de l’architecture religieuse en sentenced to martyrdom. Vincent is This new destination may have been elevations ; the ashlar parts later. wall of the nave which acts as a curved capitals. cemetery will eventually have to find Angoumois au cours de la guerre said to have endured all the suffering linked both to the presence of undoubtedly correspond to oratories in the castle rebuilt at the modifications. facade. Simple and without The semicircular absidioles, on the a larger location. de Cent Ans, Mémoires de la société caused by the torture without losing time but also to the parish church decoration, it is covered with a large eastern wall of the arms of the archéologique et historique de la his calm and benevolence towards located in the village falling into saddleback lintel. transept, have half dome vaults and Charente, 1949-1950, p. 24, 29. his torturers. Once put to death, his disuse. It forms part of a facade which is each is lit by a semicircular bay. Id. Saint-Germain-de-Confolens body was exposed to animals, but also very sober with only two other The narrow, low apse opens under (Charente), Dictionnaire des églises his remains were defended by a openings : a semicircular bay the triumphal arch that supported de France, tome 3c. Paris : Laffont, crow. His body was finally weighted decorated with a stained glass the cupola to the east. It is pierced 1967, p. 174. and placed in the open sea but, window of the Sacred Heart and an by three semicircular bays and has instead of sinking, it returned to oculus. vestiges of mural painting. DUMASDELAGE Sébastien, land before the return of the boat. Each transept crossing has two The stained glass windows in the Le château de Saint-Germain-de- He is depicted in deacon’s clothes and semicircular openings and a door. choir are creations of the Gesta Confolens, mémoire de Master 1, has different attributes : a spiked iron The bell tower, square in plan, workshop in Toulouse. They consultable au Centre d’Études bed, a millstone, a boat which he stands above the transept crossing. represent Saint Vincent, the Sacred Supérieures de Civilisation carries in his arms or even a billhook, a Heart and Saint Germain. To the Médiévale, Université de Poitiers pail and bunches of grapes. These south, a small niche is covered with latter attributes are to be linked with an accolade. his patronage of winegrowers. This astonishing patronage may come from the fact that he was tortured on a press bed, his blood then flowing where wine usually flows.