Abbaye de Saint-Savin

Abbaye de Saint-Savin from the river-side garden

The church bells announced 2 o'clock and there was already a sizeable crowd of folks gathered outside the door to the abbey. Turned out they were nearly all French as well; France really does seem to keep it treasures well hidden from tourist eyes - anywhere else there would be queues of tour buses cluttering up the world for the rest of us. I am definitely not complaining; by the time I got round to visiting the church I had to share it with only one other person - that's the sort of crowds I can cope with. Considering this is one of the more import historical sites in France, there is not much pandering to international tourists: official audio guides, people guides and the majority of explanatory texts are all in French. There are one or two examples of multi-lingual leaflets and panels, but that's about it. Perhaps this just means all the funds have been invested in the site itself - sounds like a good plan! And the whole site is extraordinary!

Part of the refectory - where the monks ate together

I pockled about the gift shop for a bit browsing the books and waiting for milling "crowds" to disperse. After that I had the place mostly to myself, simply walking through an unmarked doorway into the stone stairwell up to the next floor. 

This part of the abbey was built or rebuilt in the 18th century but even so as a random part of the building it was fabulous: solid glowing white stone flooded with light from the large windows facing the river. It was as if this was just an ordinary set of stairs that you expected to be there. The only touristic piece of information was the explanation of why the stone stairs were so heavily worn - not from the monks but from gendarmes and their families who had been billeted in the abbey during the late 19th or early 20th century, their hob-nail boots had taken their toll.

The first floor contained monk's cells. These had been altered somewhat, some joined together with fireplaces added presumably to accommodate the gendarmes. Each had been furnished with grand displays describing some detail in the history of the abbey. In the hall I counted 13 doorways but I could not figure out how this grand building was designed to house only 13 monks; some redevelopment has clearly occurred through the years. In one of the displays is an idealised plan for the construction of an abbey prepared by that great Bangorian, St. Gall. On his plan, and indeed in the original layout of the abbey, there were huge gardens so the monks could be self-sufficient in food and herbal remedies; these needed much more than only 13 monks nevermind the other duties they had to perform. I remain baffled...

Fresco: Combat of Kings

Back on the ground floor is the refectory, just to emphasise how much room was required to feed all these monks. It is a huge space with a marvellous vaulted ceiling. Tucked away at one end is one of the original fresco panels from the church: it had been on the ceiling after the nave and almost above the alter. Seems the underlying barrel vault had started to deteriorate with a major crack appearing. So the painted plaster-work was removed and reassembled here. Rather fortunate, as it is very difficult to see the detail in the church. This panel, referred to as "Combat of Kings", represents Abraham leading the Israelite army against the army of the 3 Kings. Even after almost 1,000 years the quality of the work is quite amazing. And it prepares you for what is to come - the church itself.

Ceiling and nave of the abbey's church

Access to the church is through its main door facing the town square. There are frescoes on the ceiling of the porch, on the barrel vault of the nave and just before the alter. The church itself - like the church built by Eleanor of Aquitaine & Henry in Poitiers - is filled with light. It really is quite extraordinary. You need the brochure from the shop to explain the stories painted above your head; some such as Noah's ark are easy to interpret but since the frescoes are so high and have lost their original brightness and definition, and of course one's own knowledge of the Bible may be lacking - a few hints do not go amiss. The whole story from Genesis and Exodus is told in sequence.

To be honest I found the whole experience rather overwhelming and by the time I reached the church I was struggling to take it all in. Afterwards I took a moment sitting outside in a bit of a daze trying to process the information overload; I didn't succeed. Eventually I clambered back on the bike and drove straight home via Lussac de le Châteaux, Usson and Pressac. I was still a bit stunned and it has taken a day or two to recover and to realise I had missed a lot.

Fortunately I think I will be returning in the not too distant future with a few others to experience it all afresh. Now I will know to pace myself to really get the full experience of the Abbey and everything leading up to it.