Église Saint-Symphorien

English translation

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History

Built on a Latin-cross plan and, from its origin (12th century), on large dimensions, the church was intended to receive pilgrims who came to gather around a miraculous fountain. After the Hundred Years' War, the Romanesque church was incorporated into new masonry of the 15th century, leaving only the façade flanked with 15th-century buttresses, a few sections of the gutter walls of the nave, and the chevet's apse. Two aisles were added on either side of the chevet ending at the level of the first western bay of the nave to the south, of the bay under the bell tower to the north. In the 19th century, the covering of the choir was remade in brick and plaster; the masonry, roof structures and roofing were subject to numerous repairs. The façade is pierced by a wide portal with three round-arch voussoirs, surmounted by a large window, both highly ornamented. The great archivolt of the portal presents, below a circular band, thirty-two standing figures. Most have their arms raised and appear to be dancing; others seem to be playing various instruments. The second voussoir is furnished with griffons joined by the breast. The third is covered with X-shaped arabesques. The tall window of the first storey comprises two highly carved voussoirs. One reproduces the motif of Virtues and Vices. The bell tower is circular in form, a unique case in Charente-Maritime. On the former square base a round tower was built, topped with a conical roof. Eight half-columns terminating in a point furnish its perimeter, pierced with four round-arch windows without ornament. The 15th-century chevet incorporates the former semi-circular apse. Its lateral walls are built at the alignment of the extremities of the former transept. Inside, at the centre of the nave, four large masonry masses, groups of square pilasters, support an octagonal dome on squinches with a bell opening. To the right, near the apse, a highly raised relic chapel was arranged, access to which is by a straight stone staircase.