Attractions and Places To See around La Jard - Top 20

You can also spend a night at the Saint James House B&B, quality guest rooms, swimming pool and view of the Donjon 🙂

The Abbaye-aux-Dames is built around the church of Sainte-Marie, built in the twelfth century. Famous for its facade and its characteristic "pinecone" bell tower, it is one of the emblematic monuments of Saintonge's Romanesque art. After several wars and fires, the place was restored in the 1970s and 1980s and is now a hotel. When you walk through the long corridors you feel like you have been transported back to the time when the abbey was still alive.

The Saint-Pierre Cathedral is located in the heart of the old town on the left bank of the Charente. According to tradition, the founding of this episcopal see goes back to Saint Eutrope. The construction of the first Christian building on the site of the current cathedral could not be dated with any precision. It probably dates back to the 6th century.

The keep of Pons is located in the commune of Pons in the French department of Charente-Maritime in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. This tower is the old keep of the castle of Pons. 33 m high, it is visible from a long distance and is the symbol of the city. With the Saint-Gilles chapel, the remains of the ramparts and the main building, it constitutes the remains of the ancient castle of Pons.

A former Benedictine abbey created in 1047, Abbaye-aux-Dames was the first women's monastery in Saintonge. These powerful women were nuns, that is to say, nuns living cloistered and having taken a vow of piety, occupying their lives in contemplation. They carried the crosier, in other words the pastoral staff of a bishop, and minted coins. Richly endowed, the abbey carried its influence well beyond the borders of the county and over time it became one of the most powerful women's monasteries in all of South-West France. With up to a hundred nuns at its peak, it was entrusted with the mission of instructing young girls, often from the French nobility, and counted among its most illustrious residents the future Marquise de Montespan, favorite of Louis XIV. The Abbaye-aux-Dames is structured around the Sainte-Marie church, built in the 12th century, famous for its facade and its characteristic “pine cone” bell tower. The premises were restored during the 1970s and 1980s and now house a Cité de la musique in which the Saintes Festival dedicated to classical music takes place each year. You can also stay in a wing of the building, the cells having been converted into hotel rooms, and leave your bike in a secure room.

A particularity is located in the gallery of arcature which overhangs the portal. Indeed it has three arched windows on one side of the central window and two semicircular on the other. Note that the two bays on the right occupy the same width as the three on the left. The bell tower, like many others in the region, has a pyramidal roof. Simple columns come to partition the two windows which cover each face. Inside the church, archival documents prove that the nave with two bays was originally vaulted with warheads. Unfortunately, this vault was destroyed during religious wars. Still according to archival documents, it would seem that at the beginning of the 20th century, a narthex, where the catechumens were held, leaned on its facade. Today, it has completely disappeared. The church was classified as a historic monument in 1913. The building underwent a complete restoration in 1935. To admire just next to the church a magnificent and majestic period residence.

The Church of Saint-Martin de Coucoury was built around the 11th century. It is a pretty example of a Romanesque church.

For people with a head for heights, it is worth climbing the 30-metre-high tower. There is also a museum in the building. It is one of the 'Monument historique' in France.