In our trip to France we have visited the church in Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, that was part of an abbey, a Romanesque masterpiece with simply lines and only a tower as façade; it has also a nice apse with radiating chapels, an ambulatory and a square porch. Inside there is a nave with nine bays, barrel vaults, rounded arches and a double row of columns with capitals sculpted with animals and plants; the lower lateral naves have groin vaults. The church is from the 11th century but there are some older parts: the base of the porch, the transepts with wings, the absidioles, the square tower and the crypts. The church is famous because of his frescos, representing on the vault of the porch and on the tympanum of the doorway the Apocalypse, on the barrel vaulting of the main nave 28 biblical scenes, on the upper tribune of the porch the Passion of Christ and scenes of martyrs, in the choir and on the piers of the transept many saints and on the walls of the crypts the story of St. Savin and St. Cyprian.

I was a little bit disappointed by the church because I imagined it more impressive but I liked very much its frescos. It's worth to be visited if you are in Poitou and justifies the inscription because of its frescos, the nicest Romanesque paintings in France.

Photo: Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe - Church