Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: key

The parish church "Notre-Dame", in the center of the small village of Orglandes was erected within the 15th century, but some spolia of the Romanesque churches, that was here before, were saved. One of them is a relief, "reused" here in the tympanum. Christ in a mandorla surrounded by the symbols of the fur evangelists. The two flanking persons are Saint Peter (right), holding a key, and Saint Paul, holding a writing slate. As I have already uploaded photos from this church after my last visit, this is the only one from here right now. - PiP -

A Benedictine nunnery existed here for centuries. It was founded already within the 9th century. In 920 Carolingian Charles III (aka "Charles the Simple") signed a document confirming privileges bestowed to the convent by his grandfather Charles II (aka "Charles the Bald"). Since the end of the 11th century relics of Saint Annobert were venerated here, about the same time the erection of this church may have started. The process was slow. The "Abbaye Notre-Dame de Morienval" existed upto 1745 and since then the church serves as a parish church. The church was locked, but thanks to a friendly French couple, the doors were open after while. Waiting for the keys, I found this carving, mounted on a wall next to the church. A medieval abbess, holding crosier and bible, or the Virgin (crown? nimbus?) on a throne. Or saying the abbess represents the Virgin here. Morienval = Valley of Mary?

The parish church "Notre-Dame", in the center of the small village of Orglandes was erected within the 15th century, but some spolia of the Romanesque churches, that was here before, were saved. One of them is a relief, "reused" here in the tympanum. Christ in a mandorla surrounded by the symbols of the fur evangelists. The two flaking persons are Saint Peter (right), holding a key, and Saint Paul, holding a writing slate.

Alleaume was once the gallo-roman settlement "Alauna", of which some ruins still exist. Meanwhile this is a suburb of Valognes. The parish church Notre Dame was erected within the 13th century but strongly remodeled in the 18th century. Some spolia of the Romanesque church got reused - and so can still be find. This relief is one of the old spolia. There is an "Agnus Dei" with a cross on the right side. On the left side are two persons, sitting under arches - and there is a bird. This bird holds a branch. Or the branch is a "sing-bubble" (aka "tweet"). The left person is barefoot and holds a large key, so this can only be Saint Peter. His neigbour is probably an apostle as well.

Early morning in Solignac, where a convent had been founded mid 7th century by Saint Eloi ("Saint Eligius"), who was a kind of senior adviser for the Merovingian kings Clotaire II and his son Dagobert I, the last of the Merovingian kings. The monastery thrived and soon more than 100 monks lived here. But during the 8th century it suffered from Saracen raids, followed by the Normans, who arrived here and looted the monastery a century later. When more and more pilgrims walked along the Via Lemovicensis, they all passed through here - and so the convent´s wealth and importance grew. Even a (still existing) bridge over the near river Briance got constructed during that time. The monks started the erection of the abbey-church, seen here, in the first decade of the 12th century. The structure was completed already about a century later. During the Hundred Years´ War the buildings of the abbey got partly destroyed, Calvinistic iconoclasts were here several times during the Wars of Religions. All formerly monastery buildings next to this church date back to the 18th century and now serve as a retirement home, only the impressive church survived the times and by now is well preserved. The nave is covered by a row of four cupolas on pendentives. There are not many of Romanesque churches with such wonderful domes. I do remember Soulliac, Cahors, Saintes, Perigueux.. The medieval architects had their inspiration from San Marco in Venice, completed around 1100. To plan and built such a church here was really ambitous. In the arms of the transept are some nicely carved capitals. Here Christ (cross nimbus) hands over the key to Saint Peter. This capital looks that "mint", that it may be a recent copy, but I do not know..

Duravel was known as Diolindum already in late Roman times. A chapel existed here probably since the 5th/6th century. This chapel, that got destroyed, had a crypt. In 1055 Duravel was donated to the Abbey in Moissac, since then this was a priory. After the relics of the Saints Hilarion, Agathon and Poemon had been transferred to the priory from Moissac, pilgrims headed to this church. A town developed next to the priory. THis town had already a population of about 6000, when it got besieged for weeks by English troops during the Hundred Years War. Duravel withststood the attack and the English left empty handed. 30 years after the church got severely damaged during the Wars of Religion, the last monks left and the priory was given up in 1626. Since then most buildings of the priory got lost. The Romanesque church got rebuilt and reconstructed, but still seems very intact. I reached Duravel just before noontime - and found the church locked. There was a note, that a key could be picked up during the opening hours of the tourist office. I sprinted to the office and entered just minutes, before the lunch break. The very friendly lady behind the counter then granted me 20 minutes extra-time and waited in the office, until I had locked the church and returned the key. Merci beaucoup!

The former Abbey Church in the village of Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes, that now serves the parish, has a total length of 72,30 meters and all of the 600 people living in Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes would easily find a chair inside. The church is a gem of poitevin architecture. When Prosper Mérimée visited Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes mid 19th century, the church were in a very bad state. Photograps taken some decades later show, that the facade was ruined. Prosper Mérimée efforts started a reconstruction and renovation process, that finally saved the structure. Today the facade is complete again. Many of the large sculptures that decorated the facade are damaged, as during the Wars of Religion the monastery got attacked and plundered. The Battle of Moncontour between the Catholic armee and the Huguenots was fought in 1569 only about 5kms west. The statue of St. Peter, holding the keys, is surprisingly undamaged. The history of this abbey dates back to the 4th century, when Jovinus (French "Jouin") in 342 founded a small oratory near a place named Ensio. Not much is known about Jovinus. He may have been borne in a wealthy family. It is believed, that his was brother of Saint Maximin, the first Bishop of Treves. The oratory developed into a monastery over the next decades, that was the second monastery existing in France, just after Saint-Martin-de-Ligugé, founded by St. Martin of Tours himself in 361. During the 7th century, the bishop of Nantes, Felix, asked Martin de Vertou to christianise the area. This mission led him to Ension where he imposed Saint Benoit’s rule. The small monastery was never threatend by the Normanic raids, as it was far away from large rivers. So it could offer refuge to the monks of "Saint Martin de Vertou", who left their monastery and brought the relics of their founding Saint, in 843. The erection of the Abbey Church took place between 1095 and 1130, when an old Roman road, known under the name of "Saint Hilaire’s Way" was followed by pilgrims on their way to Santiago. At that time the road was one of the many that belonged all to the "Via Turonensis". Monastic life was ended by the French Revolution in 1789. The Abbey was sold as national property. The church serves as a parish church since 1795. Parts of the former conventual buildings now belong to a privatly owned farm, next to the church.