24 Elders

In 1080, when Morlaàs was in its heydays, the building of this church started by Centulle V, Viscount of Béarn, who had to make an atonement. Morlaàs developed to an important "étape" on the Via Tolosana at that time. As the church was dedicated to St. Foy there was a kind of "link" to Conques. Later the pilgrimage business declined, the viscounts had moved away, wars arose.... The church burnt down in 1520, got severely damaged in 1569. During the French Revolution the church turned to a "Temple of Reason". The restorations of the 19th century saved the structure. Viollet-le-Duc, the influential "Inspecteur général des Edifices Diocésains" led the restoration of the portal. At all places, where he worked (eg "Carcasonne", "Vézelay"), he "recreated" and creatively "completed", what is a method, that is disputed meanwhile. The condition of the portal is a result of this restoration. After the cleaning done in the last years and the installation of pigeon-defence-wires, the carvings are "mint". All archivolts are semicircular. The large archivolt depicting the 24 Elders of the Apocalypse, a common icon on Romanesque portals (Moissac, Chartres, Santiago de Compostela ..) is as well semicircular. The lavishly clothed elders wearing crowns, hold their instruments and - have a chat. I rotated this photo as imho now the details are better visible. So the elders now seem to sit in a frieze.

In 1080, when Morlaàs was in its heydays, the building of this church started by Centulle V, Viscount of Béarn, who had to make an atonement. Morlaàs developed to an important "étape" on the Via Tolosana at that time. As the church was dedicated to St. Foy there was a kind of "link" to Conques. Later the pilgrimage business declined, the viscounts had moved away, wars arose.... The church burnt down in 1520, got severely damaged in 1569. During the French Revolution the church turned to a "Temple of Reason". The restorations of the 19th century saved the structure. Viollet-le-Duc, the influential "Inspecteur général des Edifices Diocésains" led the restoration of the portal. At all places, where he worked (eg "Carcasonne", "Vézelay"), he "recreated" and creatively "completed", what is a method, that is disputed meanwhile. The condition of the portal is a result of this restoration. After the cleaning done in the last years and the installation of pigeon-defence-wires, the carvings are "mint". All archivolts are semicircular. The large archivolt depicting the 24 Elders of the Apocalypse, a common icon on Romanesque portals (Moissac, Chartres, Santiago de Compostela ..) is as well semicircular. The lavishly clothed elders wearing crowns, hold their instruments and - have a chat. I rotated this photo as imho now the details are better visible. So the elders now seem to sit in a frieze. The left elder is carved from a different, reddish stone, that is not weathered. There are holes drilled into the stone - and one hole holds a glass bead.. This may go back to the recent restoration, but it may reflect the original appearance within the 11th century, when the portal was colorfully painted and probably beautified with gems.

In 1080, when Morlaàs was in its heydays, the building of this church started by Centulle V, Viscount of Béarn, who had to make an atonement. Morlaàs developed to an important "étape" on the Via Tolosana at that time. As the church was dedicated to St. Foy there was a kind of "link" to Conques. Later the pilgrimage business declined, the viscounts had moved away, wars arose.... The church burnt down in 1520, got severely damaged in 1569. During the French Revolution the church turned to a "Temple of Reason". The restorations of the 19th century saved the structure. Viollet-le-Duc, the influential "Inspecteur général des Edifices Diocésains" led the restoration of the portal. At all places, where he worked (eg "Carcasonne", "Vézelay"), he "recreated" and creatively "completed", what is a method, that is disputed meanwhile. The condition of the portal is a result of this restoration. After the cleaning done in the last years and the installation of pigeon-defence-wires, the carvings are "mint". Here are parts of both large archivolts. The Elders of the Apocalypse with crowns, vielles and parfum bottles - and above them people rising from the tombs and stretching their stiff bodies. All archivolts are semicircular. I rotated this photo as imho now the details are better visible. So the elders now seem to sit in a frieze.

Avy is a small a village just about 5kms south of Pons. The parish church Notre-Dame d'Avy was built in the 12th century in the Romanesque style, typical for the Saintonge. Severely damaged during the Hundred Years' War the church was rebuilt later in Gothic style. The semicircular archivolts of the portal are carved in a "flamboyant" Romanesque style. A council of 36 elderly men with strange hairdos has met on the outer archivolt. Seated like the "Elders of the Apocalypse". Some pull their beards, some hold animals (left a bird, right a fish), some play instruments. Below in the centre are two smaller "Masters of the Beasts".

The Abbey of Sainte-Marie-des-Dames was the first Benedictine abbey for women Charente-Maritime. It was founded in 1047 by Geoffrey II (aka "Geoffrey Martel") and his first wife Agnes of Burgundy. Eleanor of Aquitaine, mother of Richard Lionheart, was a great donor here. The place, where the abbey got erected, was a Roman cemetery. An Oratorium, over the tomb of Saint Pallais, existed here already in the 6th century. Saintes was a major halt for the pilgrims following the Via Turonensis, so the abbey developed well, during the first centuries. During the 100 Year´s War the abbey got ruined, reconstructed later, it got severely damaged by Huguenots during the Wars of Religions. The abbey existed up to the end of the 18th century. After the French Revolution the buldings served as prison and from 1808 on as a barracks. The church was used as a stable for the horses of the cavalry. The barracks were here up to the early 1920s, before the first renovations were started. In 1938 the abbey church "Sainte-Marie" got consecrated again. The 7th archivolt has 54 seated elderly kings (long hair and beards), holding instruments and parfum bottles, talking. These are for sure the "Elders of the Apocalypse". Here the number of Elders, which is 24, following the "Book of Revelation", more than doubled. Maybe it was a kind of status symbol, to have more than 24.

"Saint-Pierre d'Aulnay" is a church outside of Aulnay, in the center of an old graveyard. The setting has not changed for 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“ had 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, 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". Saint-Pierre´s "South Porch" is what attracts busloads of tourists to stop in Aulnay. And they are right. This is not only breathtaking, like many carvings within the Saintonge, the "South Porch" is mindblowing. Nothing less than that, there are unbelievable details. Here a close-up of the archivolts, populated by more than 140 different characters. Dozends of little atlasses stem the second (24 male saints) and the third archivolt (31 "Elders of the Apocalypse"). Here is artsymbol´s fantastic video: artsymbol.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/video-aulnay-de-sainto...

"Saint-Pierre d'Aulnay" is a church outside of Aulnay, in the center of an old graveyard. The setting has not changed for 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“ had 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, 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". Saint-Pierre´s "South Porch" is what attracts busloads of tourists to stop in Aulnay. And they are right. This is not only breathtaking, like many carvings within the Saintonge, the "South Porch" is mindblowing. Nothing less than that, there are unbelievable details. There are more than 140 different characters. Dozends of little atlasses stem the second (24 male saints) and the third archivolt (31 "Elders of the Apocalypse"). artsymbol.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/video-aulnay-de-sainto...

"Saint-Pierre d'Aulnay" is a church outside of Aulnay, in the center of an old graveyard. The setting has not changed for 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“ had 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, 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". Saint-Pierre´s "South Porch" is what attracts busloads of tourists to stop in Aulnay. And they are right.The "South Porch" is mindblowing. There are way more than 140 different characters. Here are four of the masterly carved 31 "Elders of the Apocalypse". Following the Revelation, there should be exactly 24 Elders, but there are some places in the Saintonge having more than 24 (Saintes, Avy). The Elders wear crowns, what may have caused some damage by vandals, as after the French Revolution men wearing crowns were very unpopular. The Elders seen here miss their feet.

Saint-Pierre was the church of one of the largest Augustinian abbeys in the Poitou, that was founded in 991 by Audéarde, the wife of viscount Herbert I of Thouars. The monastery was on one of the "chemins" of the Via Turonensis, so when the number of pilgrims increased, the Canons Regular of St. Augustine had this large church erected in two construction phases from the 12th century on. The western facade and the narthex are the youngest parts of the structure. When the era of the pilgrimage ended, the abbey declined and impoverished during the Hundred Years' War. Most conventual buildings were destroyed in the Wars of Religion. The abbey church now serves the parish. Here are thre of the 24 "Elders of the Apocalypse" populating the main archivolt (previous upload). This is a common icon on Romanesque portals, but - "normally" the Elders hold a veille in one and a parfum bottle in the other hand. Here this bottle got replaced by a crown. And normally they are seated on furniture - here they sit on lions. Revelation 4:4 "Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads." Actually the the Elders seen here are only about ten years old, as the facade got severely damaged by revolutionary vandals. Only 4 of the 24 sculptures survived the times undamaged. During a renovation done 2003/2004 the group got reconstructed.