Benet - Sainte-Eulalie

A Benedictian piory existed here since the 11th century. A large church for the convent was erected from the 12th century on. Of this church only the western facade survived. Though weathered and vandalized the facade still has many elements of the Romanesque church. When the church got rebuilt, after the naves had collapsed, in the 15th century large buttresses were needed, to stabilize the structure.

During the French Revolution served as a Temple of Reason and was later used as a saltpeter factory, what means explosive gunpowder (sulfur + charcoal + saltpeter was produced here.

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.

A closer look onto Sainte-Eulalie´s facade.

The elaborate archivolt around the central window makes clear, why this is known as a "bible de pierre", a bible from stone. Many biblical scenes can be found here. The carving style is delicate and reminds on works in the Charente (eg Fenioux).

Here is the "Sacrifice of Isaac".

Genesis 22:9-13

"When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

"Here I am," he replied.

"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son."