Our walk about old Poitiers continues...
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The Baptistry of St. John, a 4th century Christian building, reputedly the oldest
such in France; indeed, pretty old; unfortunately, closed for lunch, 12:30-3, so
we missed the innards |
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| Big square and Hotel De Ville, obviously re-done pretty recently |
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Church of St. Hilaire-Le-Grande; 11th century, with many modifications; this
is a seriously interesting Romanesque church; and very old |
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Nave view; what's interesting is the forest of columns, resulting in 2, maybe 3
side aisles; some accounts say the original wood roof burned--they always do--
and it was decided to go with a stone vault; but the distance to vault was too great,
so additional columns and interior buttresses were added for the effort; the result
is pretty interesting and unique |
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Thus; much experimentation was going on in these days,
developing Romanesque, hitting on ideas that would
become known as Gothic... |
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| And thus: ever seen an interior flying buttress? |
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| Apse |
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| Much old frescoe here |
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| Arched barrel vaulting in the transept, with interesting crack |
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| Vaulting in the nave and crossing |
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| Windows with cobwebs |
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| More frescoe |
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West facade; this church has been through a lot in the past going-on-10 centuries...
100 Years War, Wars of Religion, Revolution; but to me there's not a hint of a
sculptural program here, certainly not what one would expect of a Gothic... |
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| A few monsters high up on the east side |
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| And Chip and Dale |
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