Benet - Sainte-Eulalie

Sainte-Eulalie, parish church of Benet, was erected in the 12th century, but renovated and altered in the 15th century. The facade, seen here, still has many elements of the Romanesque church, though they are weathered and vandalized. Only the shape of the horseman can be seen on the left. Much better preserved are the remarkable archivolts around the windows.

Benet is a small town, west of Niort, in the Vendée, the deprtament where in 1793 the "War in the Vendée", an uprise against the young republic, was fought. The counterrevolutionary rebellion ended, when tens of thousands of civilians were massacred by the Republican army.