Église du prieuré Saint-Martin

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

The parish church of Saint-Martin de Vallenay was built in the 12th century. At the beginning of the following century, Vallenay became a priory dependent on the abbey of regular canons of Plaimpied. In the 15th century, the priory was included within the walls of the castle of the lords of Vallenay, of which there remain, in the immediate vicinity of the church, a tower and a dwelling block. This deconsecrated church consists of a Romanesque nave, covered with a wooden ceiling, which communicates by a large round arch with the two bays of the choir built in the late 15th or early 16th century. The choir is vaulted with a rib vault. A seigneurial chapel was built at a slightly later period, to the south, at the level of the first bay of the choir. This very simple church, which has suffered numerous alterations, would be of little interest if it did not contain several painted decorations, executed from the 12th to the 17th century, still largely under whitewash. The walls of the nave preserve the vestiges of a Romanesque-period calendar, representing the labours of the months of the year. On the north wall, other traces of paintings are visible: a large quatrefoil with ochre-red and ochre-yellow border, almost entirely effaced, and, above the opening, a painted scene perhaps from the 13th century, of which remains part of the inscription that explained it, above a woman's face wearing a reticule or veil, and a motif difficult to identify. Finally, to the left of this same opening, one can observe a fragment of a Romanesque-period scene, certainly representing the Miraculous Draught of Fish from the Sea of Galilee. A decoration whose subject and period cannot be determined, as it is covered with whitewash, also exists on the partition wall of the choir. On the east wall of the choir, appears a Christ in Majesty within a mandorla, accompanied by the Tetrarch. This decoration, much effaced, is probably contemporary with or shortly after the construction of the two bays of the choir. The eastern bay received painted decoration set within a feigned architectural framework, executed doubtless at the instigation of the lords of Bigny, in the 17th century. A seigneurial scroll was affixed to the walls of the church in the 17th or 18th century.