Aulnay - Saint-Pierre

Not much may have changed here. "Saint-Pierre d'Aulnay" is outside of Aulnay, in the center of
an old graveyard, since centuries. For the pilgrims of the 12th century this church was a major halt -
and it still is for all the tourists...

A predecessing church, „Saint-Pierre-de-la-Tour“, has been here, that when the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella got more and more popular, was obviously to small, as Aulnay was conveniently situated between Poitiers and Saintes on the Via Turonensis. A new, much larger church was needed, so the place was handed over to the chapter of the cathedral in Poitiers. The canons then probably planned this church, that was erected from about 1130/1140 on.


"Saint-Pierre d'Aulnay" is a gem of the "style saintongeais". For Peter Strafford ("Romanesque Churches Of France") this is "one of the best examples of late Romanesque architecture in what used to be Aquitaine". Probably millions of photos have been taken here already. I took during two visits about 300 and still have 150. I will resist to upload them all.