Attractions and Places To See around Jussas - Top 10

This lake was once a swamp area. It became a recreational area between 1981 and 1984. This site is a natural area of ecological, faunal and floristic interest, where we discover vegetation specific to swamps and peat bogs, in particular typical acidophilic plants but also a multitude of invertebrates which are only found in peaty environments: spiders, dragonflies and butterflies including the Sedge Fadet; it is a biotope very favorable to the reproduction of certain amphibians, birds (Harriers, Eurasian Curlew), and mammals (European Otter and European Mink). You can swim, there are slides and boats and kayaks to rent.

The high octagonal tower of the bell tower consists of two floors. The first is embellished on each side with two high blind bays. The second finished in the Gothic period is added by eight large windows. The inner curve of each is cut into small lobes reminiscent of the Moorish style. During the construction of the facade, the nave was shortened by one bay. In the 14th century ogival style, the arched portal with arches is accompanied by a trefoil window underlined by a checkered cornice. The square chevet has preserved in the masonry old parts of the semi-circular chevet of Romanesque origin: remains of arcades on columns with capitals, remains of cornices and windows. The old bay in front of the choir is remarkable for the quality of the sculptures of the Romanesque capitals. One represents a shrine on an altar guarded by two figures. According to C. Connoué, it is an original subject for Saintonge which would have its similar in the church of Notre-Dame-de-Soulac (Gironde). The shrine represents a church whose two-storey bell tower has a conical roof like that of the Abbaye aux Dames in Saintes or closer to Rouffignac, Nieul-Ie-Virouil. The scene is framed by two large chandeliers, furniture that is rarely represented in Saintonge sculpture. On another capital, Adam and Eve are represented after the original sin in silly niches drawn by small trees, including that of Good and Evil. Another shows birds in leaves, a subject that is also treated in the church of Grézac or in that of Jarnac-Champagne. Outside, the Romanesque chevet is punctuated by engaged columns of decreasing section.

In the second half of the 12th century, a long nave (32 x 8 m) was built, with a west facade with blind arcades and a flat chevet. In the 13th century, the west portal was rebuilt up to date and the nave received perhaps its first ribbed vaults. A Gothic bell tower-porch was built in front of the nave in the 15th century, which lengthened the church by some five metres. The floor surmounted by a spire is pierced with twin bays, underlined by a cord. Its base forms a marthex. On each side of this closed porch are two small chapels with vaults decorated with coats of arms and reproducing corner consoles sculpted with grotesque characters. The 12th century facade is pierced by an ogival portal. The arches fall on the 3 capitals of the torus columns. The door is flanked by 2 blind arched bays with a zigzag band and diamond points. Around the portal, an inscription: “The French recognize the existence of the supreme being and the immortality of the soul”. In the 15th century, the nave was doubled to the north. This vaulting was destroyed during the wars of religion and the ribbed vaults were redone in 1872. The large broken arches which separate the 2 vessels from the nave fall into penetration on large cylindrical piles. On the south wall, a group of 3 columns decorated with large foliage receives the ribs of the vaults. The south side wall from the nave to the chevet was rebuilt with old materials, some of which are carved stones. The large tracery canopy is followed by 3 Romanesque windows decorated with billets and diamond points. The choir with a flat apse is lit by a Romanesque triplet with small columns and polylobed arches. It is a provision that we find rather outside the churches. Outside, these 3 windows have no columns and are surmounted by a cornice shaped like a whistle on brackets and a large half-moon opening. In 1996-1998, a restoration campaign brought to light mural paintings and a funerary liter, a striking portrait of death. Special features to see also: a very beautiful stone pulpit and wrought iron railing from the 19th century as well as an oil on canvas, "Crucifixion", from the beginning of the 19th century.

Built in the 12th century on the plan of a Latin cross, the church of Rouffignac was completely rebuilt in the 14th century. All that remains of the Romanesque period is a part of the heart and the stump of the bell tower.

On a territory inhabited since prehistoric times, the church of Tugéras St Maurice - built in the 12th century and of which several historiated capitals remain - was partly destroyed in 1574, at the time of the Wars of Religion. The major restoration that followed gave it the current facade and ogival vaults. It is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption and Consolation. This last term attests to the existence of a very old brotherhood of Our Lady of Consolation established in the church of Tugéras. A Carmelite from Jonzac serving the parish of Tugéras from 1600 to 1621 confirms this explicitly. We can also note that, two centuries later, this parish was the first to receive the diocesan missionaries instituted in Saintes in 1820, with the approval of the bishop at the time, Mgr Paillou and his vicar general the venerable Father Baudouin... A long history of the past where the present is rooted! The church dating from the 12th century, an inscription recalls that the church was partly burned in 1574 during the wars of religion. It was restored and modified during the periods from the late Romanesque to the Gothic 16th century, while maintaining a uniform appearance and plan. It is an oriented building and its high facade erected between two heavy straight buttresses, shows a portal rebuilt at the beginning of the 16th century, decorated with cabbage leaves and framed by twisted columns ending in small pinnacles. The top floor and the spire of the bell tower are from the 19th century. It is built on a square base with walls pierced with Romanesque bays. Its supporting arches rest on finely sculpted and varied Romanesque capitals, one of which represents figures swaddled in bandages separated by plumes of palm trees; probably a souvenir mummy from a trip to the Orient. The keys of the apse ribs are decorated, one bears an escutcheon supported by angels, similar to those of the churches of Moulin and Sous-Moulin. The facade opens with a portal in the Flamboyant Gothic style. Modern bell tower on the third span. Inside, a span covered by a dome on pendentives. Two spans are vaulted with warheads (13th or 15th century), and two others in the flamboyant Gothic style. The Church of the Assumption has been listed as a historic monument since 1935, with the exception of the bell tower whose spire dates from the 19th century. This church contains six silvered copper candlesticks from the first quarter of the 19th century. They have been listed as historic monuments as an object since November 10, 198015. Dating from the same period and also classified since 1980, the altar in painted and gilded wood was restored by Jean-Louis Dufon in 2002 and 2003, in particular the iconographic elements (Saint Peter and Saint Paul).

In the second half of the 12th century, a long nave was built, with a west facade with blind arcades and a flat chevet. In the 13th century, the west portal was rebuilt to modern taste and the nave received its first ribbed vaults. In the 15th century, a bell tower-porch flanked by two small chapels was erected in front of the Romanesque facade; the three bays of the nave are widened by the construction of a north aisle; the two vessels are vaulted with warheads. In 1872, after the destruction of the Wars of Religion and the replacement by a tilis ceiling, the ribbed vaults were restored in plaster on laths. A restoration campaign took place in the years 1996-1998.

The small town has some nice sights: the old mill, a church up in the village and a few restaurants serving local specialties. Here, especially locals eat.