2006 Vezeley - Périgueux Walking

...village was named after Saint-Goussaud, whose statue we found inside the old chapel. By his side was a very small brown bull made from some brown fleece cloth. About a hundred needles were sticking in th bull´s body - and beside him was glass full of even more needles. Obviously to put a needle into the bull helped, as there was a little plate saying "merci"....

... the whole church was under construction...

..during the heat, I often spent some time in the village-churches over noontime...

....walking within the ruins of Cluny, once the most important and most influentual abbey in Europe. This church was the largest in the world (187 meter in length) , before Saint Peter was built in Rome. Demolished after the french revolution...

... had both seen so many visitors, that they seem to look through us. Maybe they were just depressed after all the years...

... Saint Philibert in Tournus, seen from the cloister. One of the churches, we have visited a couple of times. We returned to Tournus not only for Saint Philibert, but as well for a superb restaurant "Aux Terrasses": www.aux-terrasses.com/accueil_FR.html

This church, in the center of an old graveyard, dates back to the 12th century. The apse is dated ca. 1130. The portal, seen here was created 1150/1160. The church got modified a couple of times over the century - and restored within the 19th century. Léo Drouyn, regional artist, collegue of Viollet-le-Duc and rediscoverer of the Romanesque art, described these arches as the "most beautiful pieces of Romanesque sculpture within the department". Two structures have surely influenced the masters, working in Castelviel. These are the former abbeys "Saint-Maurice de Blasimon" and "La Sauve-Majeure", both not far away. This portal is carved in a typical style, found in the Gironde, the Saintonge, the Charente and the Poitou, carved from a soft, white (unfortunately weathering) stone. There is no tympanum, but many archivolts and capitals. This is the same capital, as seen before. It has three Luxuriae, not one. Two are seen from this pov. To "repeat" and icon and so creating a string is very typical for this artistic style. Though a string of three icons is pretty short..

The parish church Saint-Sulpice in the village of Marignac was erected within the 12th century as part of a priory, founded here by the Charroux Abbey (120kms southeast). The church has a remarkable cloverleaf layout. The eastern part with the side chapels and the apse and the western portal are still dating back to the first church here, while the outer walls of the nave have been rebuilt, after destruction by war. The frieze, that runs all around the apse, has a very dense jungle of entwined vines, full of dangers and adventures. The large eagle seems very unconcerned, while the two dogs attack the deer.

Since 365, when Saint Marcellin became the first bishop here, a cathedral existed in Embrun. Saint Gregory of Tours wrote about a "basilica mirabilis" built over the tombs of Saints Nazarius and Celsus. After the Lombards had sacked Embrun end of the 6th century, Charlemagne funded the erection of a new cathedral. In the 10th century the Sarazens raided the area - and again looted the town (and killed the bishop). The cathedral of today was built on foundations of Charlemagne´s basilica between 1170 and 1220. It has an impressive ribbed vaulting made of black and white stones. The capitals around the nave are Romanesque. Two lions with enormous tongues flank a mermaid, probably a cousin of the mermaid I had met near the portal.