The church in Chavingny....
Today we made an outing recommended by Jeanne, to St. Savin, a small town about an hour outside of Poitiers. We stopped on the way for bread, and took along our portable cooler of cheese and apples. It turned out that St. Savin is a UNESCO site, protected as a world cultural treasure. The structure inspiring this designation is an abbey church which contains the most renaissance frescos of anyplace in the world. Unfortunately for our visit, the majority of the frescos were behind closed doors being restored, but it was still fascinating to see even part of them, a movie about their history, a show about their restoration, and an interactive display about the history of the abbey.
On the way back to Poitiers, we stopped at the small town of Chavigny, and Tom found his way flawlessly to the old town beyond the village. We walked around a bit – the place is filled with artists looking for a sale – and were rewarded with another lovely church, this one with almost assuredly modern frescos, but of a style we had never seen. Well worth the detour.
But, by the way, still no green guide for Brittany. But are we nervous? (Well, maybe one of us...a little.)
No comments:
Post a Comment