Saintonge romane: Notre-Dame in Rioux
If you are not French, it’s likely you haven’t ever heard the word “Saintonge”, and have no clue what it means. If you are French, it’s probably the same thing. Unless, that is, you are a fan of Romanesque, in which case you know that Saintonge, that small region of France centered around the town of Saintes (hence the name), not far from the Atlantic Ocean, just North of Bordeaux... features the highest density of Romanesque churches of all the country!
I had never visited that area of France, and so in the middle of October 2021, I took that long overdue trip and stayed two weeks in Saintes, driving left and right daily to photograph all the most significant Romanesque churches... and unfortunately leaving out many others, as they are so thick on the ground!
Being by nature a human activity, even the best and purest of arts can, in time, overdo itself and teeter upon the brink of baroque, exaggeration and overabundance. Built around 1160, about ten years after its magnificent neighbor in Rétaud (which we have seen a few days ago), the Notre-Dame church in Rioux is largely regarded among specialists as having gone slightly over the top in terms of outside decoration.
I have seen the exact same thing with the enclos paroissiaux (“parish enclosures”) in Brittany: the desire to do better and grander than the neighbors, combined with the existence of generous financial means, often leads to an overdoing of things in which the spiritual appears to be drowned in a wave of refinement and superficiality.
This almost exaggerated decoration is often cited as one of the chief reasons why this church was only listed as a Historic Landmark in 1903, while its neighbor in Rétaud was listed in 1862. In the late 1950s, François Eygun, Director of Historic Antiquities, wrote: “This is no more the elegant richness, but the exaggeration of a quality pushed beyond the limits of the reasonable and into bad taste.”
We, visitors of the 21st century, may take a more lenient approach... or maybe it is our own taste that has been distorted over the years by lack of backbone, cheap and self-fulfilling enjoyment (read: selfies!) and reality TV... I will let my viewers decide.
Strangely enough, the façade is probably the most understated part of this church. The top part of the bell tower is from the 15th century, but all the rest shows a remarkable restraint, with only the Virgin in a mandorla and abstract motifs on the voussures around and over the main door.
Saintonge romane: Notre-Dame in Rioux
If you are not French, it’s likely you haven’t ever heard the word “Saintonge”, and have no clue what it means. If you are French, it’s probably the same thing. Unless, that is, you are a fan of Romanesque, in which case you know that Saintonge, that small region of France centered around the town of Saintes (hence the name), not far from the Atlantic Ocean, just North of Bordeaux... features the highest density of Romanesque churches of all the country!
I had never visited that area of France, and so in the middle of October 2021, I took that long overdue trip and stayed two weeks in Saintes, driving left and right daily to photograph all the most significant Romanesque churches... and unfortunately leaving out many others, as they are so thick on the ground!
Being by nature a human activity, even the best and purest of arts can, in time, overdo itself and teeter upon the brink of baroque, exaggeration and overabundance. Built around 1160, about ten years after its magnificent neighbor in Rétaud (which we have seen a few days ago), the Notre-Dame church in Rioux is largely regarded among specialists as having gone slightly over the top in terms of outside decoration.
I have seen the exact same thing with the enclos paroissiaux (“parish enclosures”) in Brittany: the desire to do better and grander than the neighbors, combined with the existence of generous financial means, often leads to an overdoing of things in which the spiritual appears to be drowned in a wave of refinement and superficiality.
This almost exaggerated decoration is often cited as one of the chief reasons why this church was only listed as a Historic Landmark in 1903, while its neighbor in Rétaud was listed in 1862. In the late 1950s, François Eygun, Director of Historic Antiquities, wrote: “This is no more the elegant richness, but the exaggeration of a quality pushed beyond the limits of the reasonable and into bad taste.”
We, visitors of the 21st century, may take a more lenient approach... or maybe it is our own taste that has been distorted over the years by lack of backbone, cheap and self-fulfilling enjoyment (read: selfies!) and reality TV... I will let my viewers decide.
Strangely enough, the façade is probably the most understated part of this church. The top part of the bell tower is from the 15th century, but all the rest shows a remarkable restraint, with only the Virgin in a mandorla and abstract motifs on the voussures around and over the main door.