I actually visited the Abbey at St-Savin twice, on consecutive days.  The first visit was on a Sunday in October when the Abbey is only open in the afternoon.  Unfortunately I had managed to pick a day when the Parish Council were holding an event in the Church, meaning the Church was also closed during the afternoon.  The lovely staff in the visitor centre suggested that we visit the museum aspect of the Abbey for a reduced rate of EUR 8 per person.  When we explained that we were really there to see the paintings in the church, they offered to let us pay the full price of EUR 10 each and access the museum on the Sunday and then the Church on the Monday, once it had re-opened.  This seemed reasonable so we paid our EUR 20 and entered the museum.

I can't really review the Museum nor the short film, as both were entirely in French, and my grasp of the French language is 'conversational' at best.  Certainly this was insufficient to glean any understanding into the initial creation of the paintings, their subsequent restoration, nor the life of the monks in the Abbey responsible for the works.  I strongly believe that UNESCO listed sites should make provision for visitors speaking other languages.  We were given an English language leaflet but this described the sites in the Church, not the Museum.  Thus after 20 mins or so we left, feeling very disappointed but looking forward to the return visit the next day.

On arriving the next morning and presenting our tickets, we were advised that the Church can be accessed freely (like any other Parish Church in France), and no entrance fee applies, so our tickets were not needed!!!!!  Clearly we had not been told this pertinent fact the day before, otherwise we would have left without visiting the museum, based on previous feedback.

So I am submitting this review to ensure that future visitors are aware that they can visit the Church and see the paintings without paying the entrance fee to the museum.  Simply enter the church via the main door and not the door from inside the visitor centre.  Of course should you understand French then a visit to the Museum could also be enjoyable.  The Visitor Centre also has a good leaflet (as mentioned above) detailing the paintings in the Church in multiple languages for a reasonable fee of EUR 1.

However, despite the experience of my visit being disappointing, I must say that the Church is beautiful and the paintings incredible.  We were the only visitors and thoroughly enjoyed viewing the paintings and exploring the church.  Like Els, I also felt I had seen painted pillars similar to those here somewhere else, but as yet, haven't been able to remember where.