Gensac-la-Pallue - Saint-Martin

Gensac-la-Pallue is a small town, about 10kms southeast of Cognac, with a population of 1500. Saint Martin is the large parish church of the town. It is not known, who financed this church, when it was erected within the 12th century (the choir and tower were added a century later) and there are no obvious connections to one of the important abbeys of the area, but for a parish church, built on swampy grounds, this is a pretty prestigious structure.

Saint-Martin has a western facade, that is extraordenary, as not many churches in the Poitou have three horizontal registers/levels. For architects the impressing four domes, that span over the nave, are the most interesting features of St. Martin. While 40kms west in Saintes the domes of "Abbaye des Dames" collapsed during the Wars of Religion, here they are still in place.