Bourgogne romane: Saint Martin priory church in Chapaize
After Blanot, we continue our visit of some remarkable Romanesque churches in southern Burgundy.
In the small and quiet village of Chapaize, a Benedictine priory was founded in the 900s by the monks of the abbey of Chalon-sur-Saône. The church that we can see today, and which is one of the most interesting in all of Burgundy, was built around Year 1000 by the great abbot and builder Guillaume de Volpiano, who had originally come from Italy —but “nations” as we know them today meant nothing back then.
In general, this beautiful church is reminiscent of the abbey church of Tournus, which is only 15 kilometers away, on the other bank of River Saône. You will have noticed the bandes lombardes, an expected decorative motif for the period. They appear on the façade and on the bell tower, which is very tall (35 meters) and towers over all the surrounding countryside.
I have taken quite a few photographs of this great church, and so we will remain in Chapaize for a couple of days.
The tall western wall of the church. The high windows with its deep embrasure shows how thick that wall is. Originally, there may have been only the lower, smaller window you can still see the frame of. Conversely, the niches on each side of the portal were never opened, they are too low. My guess is that they were used for stoups.
Bourgogne romane: Saint Martin priory church in Chapaize
After Blanot, we continue our visit of some remarkable Romanesque churches in southern Burgundy.
In the small and quiet village of Chapaize, a Benedictine priory was founded in the 900s by the monks of the abbey of Chalon-sur-Saône. The church that we can see today, and which is one of the most interesting in all of Burgundy, was built around Year 1000 by the great abbot and builder Guillaume de Volpiano, who had originally come from Italy —but “nations” as we know them today meant nothing back then.
In general, this beautiful church is reminiscent of the abbey church of Tournus, which is only 15 kilometers away, on the other bank of River Saône. You will have noticed the bandes lombardes, an expected decorative motif for the period. They appear on the façade and on the bell tower, which is very tall (35 meters) and towers over all the surrounding countryside.
I have taken quite a few photographs of this great church, and so we will remain in Chapaize for a couple of days.
The tall western wall of the church. The high windows with its deep embrasure shows how thick that wall is. Originally, there may have been only the lower, smaller window you can still see the frame of. Conversely, the niches on each side of the portal were never opened, they are too low. My guess is that they were used for stoups.