Maillezais - Saint-Nicolas

Maillezais, a small town with a population of less than 1000, is known for it´s old monastery, founded in the very swampy "Marais Poitevin" in 989. It developed well, when the land around got reclaimed. Later even was a bishop´s see was here. Only some ruins are left of the former Gothic cathedral, as it was burned down by Huguenots during the Wars of Religion and sold as a quarry to local entrepreneurs after the French Revolution.

Saint Nicolas, the parish church had a better fate, though vandalized and severely damaged during the Wars of Religion as well, it did not get ruined like the cathedral. The western facade is built in the "style saintonge" with the flanking blind arches.

Capitals and corbels decorate the walls of the nave and the apse. Many corbels are renovated, sometimes even missing parts have been replaced.

Here is a duo, that must have sucessfully toured around western France in the 12th century, as the musician playing the vielle and his collegue, the harpist, can be found under the roofs of many churches.