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The church suffered little damage during the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion. From the end of the 18th century, maintenance work was undertaken mainly inside the church. In 1822, the reconstruction of the bell tower framework began, followed in 1852 by the restoration of the west facade. A further restoration took place around 1860, and the sacristy was enlarged by the construction of a semicircular annex extending the Romanesque apse. Beginning in 1880, a roof repair campaign began, and a new belfry was installed in the bell tower. From 1890 to 1900, the cemetery surrounding the church was moved to the "Fief des Rentes," and the former burial site was transformed into a public square. Starting in 1926, the choir roof was replaced and the bell tower was made watertight. In 1971, the work program included the renovation of the exterior walls, the demolition of the false apse and the sacristy that concealed the apse of the south transept. In 1990, the main door was replaced with oak leaves, the stones were repointed, and the collapsed arch keystone was reinstalled. In the 2000s, the municipality repaired the mechanism of the two belfry bells, and the building was illuminated and maintenance work was carried out.

The Church of Our Lady of Corme-Écluse, the seat of a former Benedictine priory of the Abbey of the Ladies of Saintes, was donated around 1104 by Ramnulfus Focaudi (Bishop of Saintes between 1083 and 1106) to the Royal Abbey of Saint-Jean-d'Angély "so that he might always enjoy it and possess it in perpetuity." This abbey was thus responsible for the reconstruction of the sanctuary in the mid-12th century in the Romanesque style. A plaque affixed to the south wall of the nave contains a few historical snippets, still legible: 1200, the Benedictines completed the construction and adorned the church with an oak statue of the Blessed Virgin; 1327, the Abbot of Saint-Jean-d'Angely and an envoy of Pope John XXII prayed before the venerated image; In 1628, a pilgrimage was established to venerate the statue; In 1733, the statue was mutilated. The desecrator was punished. The church's plan is a slightly asymmetrical Latin cross (the north arm of the transept is longer than the south arm). The nave consists of two bays covered by pointed barrel vaults. It is lit by three symbolic windows rebuilt in the 13th century. A transverse arch separates the nave from the transept, whose crossing, under the bell tower, is covered by a cupola on squinches. The south arm of the transept opens onto an apse with a semi-dome vault. However, the north arm, rebuilt in the 17th century in the Romanesque style, is slightly longer than the south arm, and is designed on a rectangular plan without an apse. This arm has a portal with columns and toric rollers. After passing the triumphal arch, the choir begins with a straight bay covered with a semi-circular barrel vault and ends with a semi-circular vaulted arch.

Upon arriving in Corme-Écluse, it's only natural to stop at the church square, the heart of the Cormillon village. On this square, facing the town hall, stands the Church of Notre-Dame. Walk around it to admire the architectural details characteristic of the 12th-century Saintonge Romanesque style. The church was the seat of a former Benedictine priory of the Abbey of the Ladies of Saintes. The sculpted decoration of the Abbey of the Ladies certainly inspired that of the church of Corme-Écluse. This was often the case; mother abbeys were taken as examples by the priories that depended on them in terms of architecture and sculpture. In some cases, it is even assumed that the sponsors, artists, or craftsmen were the same people or at least from the same circle, sometimes descendants. Since the 13th century, the monument has been the destination of numerous pilgrimages that continue to this day. The pilgrimage takes place on the third Sunday of July in the convent gardens, followed by a procession to the Church of Our Lady.

The Saint-Symphorien church in Grézac, which depended on the Abbey of Saint-Eutrope, was built in the 12th century. Unfortunately, only the north apse remains from the Romanesque period. The rest of the building dates from the 14th century. The decoration of this Romanesque apse is remarkable: one can admire in particular the beautiful capitals of interlacing and foliage. Despite its simple plan, the church is original in both its design and decoration. Under the right apse, a vast crypt-ossuary is preserved, its vaults resting on benches arranged along the walls of the room and rising five meters high, resting in the center on a column. The latter bears a capital sculpted with monster heads and grimacing faces. At the base of the ribbed vaults, beautiful corbels and corner columns are sculpted with human faces or floral motifs. The façade, whose iconographic arrangement is not original, is composed of plaster reliefs. One of them depicts four figures evoking the condemnation of Saint Symphorien to martyrdom. The latter was beheaded. Another depicts a Sagittarius brandishing his bow and chasing a deer. A third depicts two episodes from the well-known fable of the Fox and the Stork, which can be found on two capitals on the south façade of the church of Cozes. The interior of the building is striking, particularly the northwest corner, which houses a plaster high relief likely dating from the 19th century. All the figures taking part in the scene of Christ's baptism are depicted almost life-size.

very beautiful remains of an abbey

Of the first church built in the 12th century, only the apse, the transept, the Gothic chapels and the bell tower remain, which is one of the best preserved and most elegant in Saintonge. It rises on three square floors supported by a powerful stump, and each face is decorated with a slender arcade with five arches supported by columns with capitals. The upper floor is pierced on each side by three elegant semi-circular twin bays. Of the church, entrusted to the Chaise-Dieu Abbey in 1084 by Robert de Pons, only the eastern part remains, the nave having disappeared during the Wars of Religion (16th century). Inside, note the dome divided into eight compartments as well as very beautiful capitals in the original sanctuary, decorated with acanthus leaves and palmettes. An ossuary crypt, from the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th century, located under the chapel, extends the northern arm of the transept. It is accessible by a small staircase. It is covered with a primitive ribbed cross. A stone bench goes around the crypt about 50 centimeters from the current floor. Open on request at the town hall.

The Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens church: From the novel to the novel, there is only one step here and not only in the text! This church holds a special place in the Saintonge Romanesque landscape because it is built on the remains of a Gallo-Roman villa. The first bay of the choir, which carries the bell tower, reuses part of the walls of this villa and we can still observe fragments of a hypocaust, composed of an octagonal-shaped swimming pool. The church contains the oldest elements still visible in the religious buildings of Saintonge with masonry made of small regular rubble stones. Its classic plan has a two-bay nave and a pointed cradle vaulted transept. The choir bay is covered with a dome called “barlongue sur trompes”. The apse is decorated with an arcade which has beautiful sculpted capitals: a scene of the Holy Women at the Tomb; remains of archaic Romanesque sculpture which reveal lion tamers, a bow and falcon hunting scene. The front choir is a very old part of the building, dating from the 10th or 11th century, where magnificent Carolingian capitals decorated with fine arabesques remain. The church has two facades to the West and the South. Note the very curious series of modillions on the western facade, cubic in design.

Founded in 1136 by Geoffroy de Lauroux thanks to a gift from Guillaume X, Duke of Aquitaine, the Abbey of Sablonceaux was a high place of prayer for the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine for six centuries.