Montmorillion

Today has dawned a chilly but fine, sunny day.

We walked into town. There was a market on in the square so we had a wander around

On the way in we had seen a cave site which is being excavated as it was found to contain prehistoric remains.

We stopped for a photo opportunity on the way up to the old town.

Dott remembered a great place to take a photo of the Pont Vieux over the river. The 'Old Bridge' dates back to the 11th century.Because of the numerous religious conflicts that plagued the region for centuries it had to be rebuilt several times.

The river Gartempe crosses the town of Montmorillon, separating it into two differrent sections- the old and new parts of the town.

The Notre Dame Church is located on the rocky cliff overlooking the bridge.

Hospital monastery founded in the 11 th century and now an aged care home.

The Octagone which is a mysterious funerary chapel constructed on the model of the Sepulcre de Jeruslaem.

After lunch we drove to see the Abbey Church of St Savin - Sur- Gartempe.

It was begun in the mid-11th century and contains many beautiful 11th- and 12th-century murals which are still in a remarkable state of preservation. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983.

The major draw card was the remains of a large painted mural on the barrel vault which depicts scenes from the Old Testament.

Getting a better view of the ceiling.

The columns looked Aboriginal in design!

View from a lookout over Chauvigny.

Chauvigny is a town with five châteaux dominating the Vienne River from a rocky cliff, a truly unique site in Europe.

Chauvigny is also an important site for Romanesque architecture with the Saint Pierre Collegiate Church (12th C) famous for its sculptured chapels and painted columns.

The Donjon de Gouzon Castille (11th & 13th C ) provides a panoramic view and also is a museum which we visited, houses examples of local industrial production through the ages (stone quarries, porcelain, mills and limestone ovens, a steam wheel, etc).

The Archaeological and Ethnological Museum retraces two thousand years of daily city life (Gallo-Roman artefacts, tools and head dresses).

Views from the top of the museum.

St Pierre from above

Next stop was Civaux to see the necropolis, the church and the Roman remains next to the church.

Many legends surround the necropolis and its several thousand tombs. The 350 Merovingian sarcophagi were possibly the resting place for soldiers killed in 507 A.D. during the battle of Vouillé, between Clovis and the Visigoths. This necropolis is also a witness of early christianisation in the area, since it has a church with a baptismal font, still visible.

It is a most bizarre place. The fence is made exclusively of upright tombstones.

The Civaux church St Gervaise

The church with the choir of the 6th century is one of the oldest church in France. In the nave built in the 12th century, are original capitals : marriage, temptation, dragons and griffins. The edifice was built on remains of a Roman sanctuary. The church formed with the baptistery a prominent religious ensemble of the Merovingian period.(5th century)

The oldest part of the church dates back to a pagan temple of Merovingian times. Excavations have revealed merovingian sarcophogi. The chancel of the church is from merovingian times. The funerary stele from the Christian era set in the inside chancel wall shows that a Christian community already existed in Civaux as early as 400 AD.

It was getting late so we turned for the campsite. We came across this dolman on the way back. The top part had collapsed in but it was huge.

We had a lovely BBQ for dinner. Mike used a little technology to get the coals to light better!