Souillac - Sainte-Marie

Souillac is another town, that I cannot pass, without stopping and visiting the former abbey-church. Legends tell, that the abbey was founded by Saint Eligius (Saint Eloi), advisor of Merovingian King Dagobert I. The abbey got destroyed by the Saracens, Charlemagne commissioned the reconstruction, that again ruined got by Norman invaders. Of course it got looted during the Wars of Religions, but existed upto the French Revolution.

The abbey-church, today serving the parish, got built on the blueprint of a Latin Cross in the 12th century. The single nave is about 15 ms wide. Above are no vaults, but three domes, similar to Saint-Front in Périgueux and Saint Etienne in Cahors.

During the Wars of Religions the complex carvings that once were on the outside of the church got removed and placed inside, to save them from iconoclastic vandals.

The "Pilier de Souillac", a masterpiece, probably once used as a trumeau. Similar (but less complex) pillars, populated with humans and beasts, exist in Moissac, Freising (Germany), Lund (Sweden) and Lucca (Italy). Here is a detail.