Profetic words

In the previous blog I moaned about some capitals bricked into a wall of a farm in Cluny we had been unable to find. I closed my blog with the more or less profetic words: " It would not surprise me if the wall has been demolished and that the capitals have disappeared to a museum somewhere...."

The gate and wall we were looking for

A pit bull never let go, and the same goes for me when it comes to seeming hopeless search actions.
I did not have much to go on. We were looking for a wall giving access to the courtyard of a farm "Ferme Sainte-Odile", not far from the "Porte-Sainte-Odile". All information came from three different websites, although they were somehow interlinked. One of the websites even suggested a possible location on a map of Cluny, but it also rated the reliability of this location as extremely low. The spelling of the farm and the gate was also not very reliable, since Saint-Odile was a man, and certainly not a woman (Sainte-Odile).
Cluny is a small town, and we regularly meet well known authorities on several subjects in its streets. People we know include the Mayor of Cluny, the writer of a number of books on local history, and several people involved in organising guided tours and lectures about the history of Cluny. This would not have been the first time that I tackled one of these authorities in the street with a burning question.

Google Earth of St-Odile quarter in Cluny

Suddenly I thought "Why on earth would I wait till I bump into one of them?". It must be possible to find an email address of one of the historians in Cluny, and a search action in my archives brought a brochure to light which had the email address of Jean-Luc Maréchal on it. He lives in an old historical building, and does every so often guided tours, which include a visit to his own house as well. During one of these visits we had bought a brochure, and that was the one I just had found.
An email with my question was quickly dispatched, and after that it was just hoping for an answer.

Could this be IT?

When we came back from doing some shopping, there also was an answer. Not from Maréchal, but from another expert on the subject, Jean-Denis Salvèque, who obviously worked closely together with Maréchal. His words were, freely translated:

"The 'Ferme Saint-Odile' is located approx. 100 m south of the Chapelle Saint-Odile. The capitals have been removed in the fifties, were on display in one of the abbey buildings, and went into storage in 2010."

The Porte Saint-Odile is not far from the chapel, and with these data it did not require magic to locate the farm with the help of Google Earth.

Or was this IT?

And once again we went to Cluny, hoping to find at least the old bit of wall. At the farm we found three different gates, all with stone posts, and all with hedges on both sides of the gate.
But the farm had two access roads, of which one was closed with a low but locked gate. I just was going to take a picture of the farm which was quite far away at the end of the road using my zoom lens,, when the owners of the neighbouring house came back from a walk. After we had explained to them that we were looking for something that had disappeared years ago, they thought at first that I came straight from the loony bin, but once they realised we were seriously looking for something they defrosted. The man had endless stories about the farm, even though he had never heard of these capitals. He knew for example that the farm had been built from stones bought from the demolished church Cluny III around 1800.

This looked more like it...

They had right of way on their neighbour's ground, and they opened the gate for us so that we could at least take some pictures of the gate down the road from nearby. The size of the gate looked quite similar to that of the gate on the black-and-white picture, so we thought we had found what we were looking for.
Until... we got home and sat down to study the pictures we took. The gate we thought was "THE" gate had an open background. The black-and-white photograph clearly showed a roof in the background, with a bit lower a lean-to and to the right a roof of an extension. On one of the pictures we had taken on the other side of the house however we could clearly see a roof, and below it a lean-to. Comparing the two pictures led to the following conclusion:

But this was THE gate!

The original gate and wall had been demolished after the capitals had been saved. Gate and walls were replaced with a new gate, stone posts and a high hedge. The building behind it was still intact, including the lean-to; the extension however had most likely also been demolished.

So my last remark on the previous blog was maybe not spot on, but close enough to boast supernatural tendencies!

For our own website, click here.

Looking for something, but for what?

Cluny is not only famous for its abbey, or for the remains there of. The collection of houses from the Romanesque period is maybe not the biggest, but certainly one of the biggest in France.
The old houses in Cluny had some sort of corridor on the first storey, with richly decorated arcades looking out over the street below.

4 Rue Joséphine Desbois

There are a few of these so called claire-voies still intact, some in the facades of houses, some in museums. This web page gives a nice overview.  On still another site a map of Cluny can be found, showing the locations of Romanesque, Gothic and Romanesque-Gothic houses; besides there is also a mlist of all registered monuments.
On the list of monuments there were a number of matters mentioned I had never heard of, and the map of Romanesque houses showed a number of houses which, as far as I could remember, had nothing spectacularly Romanesque, at least not on the outside.
Since we are in the centre of Cluny at least twice a week (Tuesday and Saturday), it seemed like a good idea, before or after lunch, whichever was most convenient, to look for Romanesque houses with the help of the map and for monuments with the help of the list.
One of the most interesting things we were looking for were the remains of a claire-voie, which belonged to the house on 1-3, Rue de la Chanaise, a house that is regularly mentioned in publications about Romanesque houses in Cluny.

Corner Rue Saint Mayeul and Rue de la Chanaise

However, we could not find anything Romanesque on the wall of 1, Rue de la Chanaise, and no. 3 did not exist (anymore). Whilst looking for something completely different, one day we approached Rue de la Chanaise from the other side, from the Rue Saint-Mayeul. And on the corner of Rue Saint-Mayeul and Rue de la Chanaise we found what we had been looking for on the wrong side of the house!
Our trips in search of Romanesque remains in Cluny have now come to an end, and we have a pretty good idea of what Cluny has to offer when it comes to Romanesque (and other styles) buildings. Obviously not everything ended successfully. Quite a few houses showed nothing Romanesque on the outside; possibly only a few internal walls came from that period. At the location where once stood a Romanesque house, now stands a .... public toilet!

A genuine Romanesque public toilet!

Only one thing remained. Eduard van Boxtel, my Romanesque guru, knew of an old farm near the porte Saint-Odile. The cour of this farm had a wall around it, and this wall had two capitals "bricked" in that once belonged in Cluny III. He could even produce a black-and-white picture of this wall, so that I knew what to look for. One day we went to the porte Saint-Odile, but wherever we looked, we could not find a farm, let alone a wall with capitals. However, there are two new schools near the gate, and it would not surprise me if the wall has been demolished and that the capitals have disappeared to a museum somewhere....

The picture below was taken from this web page.

For a number of highlights from the Romanesque period in Cluny, click here.

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Maisons romanes in Cluny, 12th century, 4*


For our own website, click here.

Ferme Saint-Odile

A key to solve the mistery

As a continuation of a previous blog about the same subject, we found out quite quickly through our connections with the Office de Tourisme who held the keys to the chapel or church in the cemetery in Saint-Gengoux. That happened to be Monsieur Gérard Mignot, a local amateur historian, who organises guided tours around the town and who wrote several publications on the history of Saint-Gengoux.

The altar

When we phoned him, we had made an appointment in no time, and a couple of days later we picked Gérard up at the OT and drove off to the cemetery. Once inside it, the church was a bit disappointing. There were two gravestones, one with some inscriptions (in my opinion in Gothic print), an old altar, and the few bits of stonework that were visible did not show anything interesting. Gérard had his doubts about this being the very first church of Saint-Gengoux. He thinks that this once was a church outside the town walls belonging to a leper colony. The original church was more likely located near where the "new" church was built. Again according to Mignot this church was originally dedicated to Sainte-Madeleine or Sainte-Magdalène, who was very popular with lepers. The remaining bit of the church could have been the end chapel of this church, dedicated to the Holy Virgin, whilst one of the transept chapels (both demolished) was dedicated to Saint-Joseph.

Baptismal font in the town hall of Saint-Gengoux

The church was broken down in 1806 and the stones were distributed among the Jouvenceaux (the name of the inhabitants of Saint-Gengoux). In return they had to close the west side of the chapel with a wall, and make a window in the south wall. The altar was replaced from the choir to the chapel, and the baptismal font serves nowadays as a flower pot in the town hall.
 Eduard van Boxtel, who acts as an arbitrator in these matters, thought the whole story in combination with the pictures disturbing enough to take the church off his list of Romanesque churches in Saône-et-Loire. We, on the other hand, have again learned something new and interesting about our fascinating region!

For all my pictures of this church, click here. 

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Former chapel or church Saint-Gengoul in Saint-Gengoux-le-National, 10th (?) century, 0*
As explained above, this information is most likely null and void.

For our own website, click here.

Spelling rules

Not only Dutch people have problems with spelling rules, certainly when it comes to conjugating verbs. Conjugated forms of verbs, ending on t, d, or worst, on dt, are a nightmare for many a Dutch child, because there is no difference in pronunciation.
The French have the same problem, albeit as far as I know not with conjugated verbs. One of our clients lives in Rimont, and around this hamlet (part of the commune of Fley) one sees signs pointing to Rimont or Rimond, and even official bodies like the Cadastre (land registry) use Rimont or Rimond at random.

The chapel in Rimont

I stick to Rimont, a stronghold of Roman Catholicism. Recently the monastery of Rimont made the local headlines in connection with child abuse by the clergy. Obviously the Brethren and Sisters of Rimont are pulling their weight when it comes to scandals within the church.
Apart from the buildings of the Frères de Saint Jean and the Soeurs contemplatives en Apostoliques de Saint Jean there is not much going on in Rimont, other than a burst radiator with a client of ours. Until I found out that there was a Romanesque chapel in Rimont, through le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne. It appears that the Sisters (this time the Apostolical Sisters of Saint-John) are using an old chapel for their vespers and lauds, although they celebrate mass in the big chapel of the Brethren.
The chapel was closed; however, from the outside it was certainly a pretty little chapel.
A suggestion : maybe, if the Brethren and Sisters are still allowed to teach, they could concentrate a bit more on the correct spelling of place names....

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Chapel Saint-Pierre in Rimont (Fley), 12th century, 0*

For our own website, click here.

The chapel in Rimont

Looking for Mr. Plumber

We are organising all sort of things for people owning a second house, and one of the most popular requests is whether we can organise a plumber, certainly after a long and severe frost period, when water pipes or toilet bowls have been burst.

The chapel in Saint-Martin-de-Croix

The plumber we are normally using lived in Bonnay, and one day, when we needed him and he did not pick up his phone, we decided to look him up personally. When we arrived at his house, it looked like he had moved out. His shutters were closed, his letterbox was open and hung half demolished of the wall, in a word, it looked like a wreck. We went to the only bar in Bonnay, and found out that our Monsieur K. had moved to Burnand. Well, villages are small (so we thought), hence it could not be difficult to find our plumber there.
Well, uhmmm, no. After having inspected all letterboxes in Burnand, there was still no trace of Monsieur K.

De bell-gable of the chapel in Saint-Martin-de-Croix

So we went back to MI5 in Bonnay, and the pub owner gave us Monsieur K.'s new telephone number. We also found out that Monsieur K. had not moved to Burnand itself, but to a little hamlet called Saint-Martin-de-Croix. Monsieur K. explained where his house was, and the next day we went over to Saint-Martin-de-Croix to meet up with him.
His house was on the main street, not far from the local chapel, and after having arranged for a visit to one of our clients we nipped into the chapel. It resembled very much the one in the previous blog, rectangular in plan, simple, and with a bell tower à la Provence. On le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne the patron saint of the church is not mentioned, hence unknown.
I would propose to appoint one, e.g. Sint-Guilielmus or Sint-Vincentius. They are in any case the patron saints of plumbers....

For some more photos of the chapel, click here.

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Chapel (most likely Saint-Martin) in Saint-Martin-de-Croix (Burnand), 12th century, 2*

For our own website, click here.

Interior of the chapel in Saint-Martin-de-Croix

Kiling two birds with one stone

The first time we ever heard of Saint-Forgeuil (in the commune of Bresse-sur-Grosne) was through two of our our gîte guests, fanatic cyclists, who made long trips along the Voie Verte and the signposted "boucles" in this area.

The church of Saint-Forgeuil

One fine day they returned from one of their trips, all flustered, because they had found another tuilerie, not far from here, in the hamlet of Saint-Forgeuil. We knew most of the tuileries around here, but this one was new to us. The owner happened to be a Belgian, also interested in industrial archaeology, who happened to know about even more brick factories in the area of which we were not aware. On le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne I found reference to a Romanesque church dedicated to Saint-Ferréol, reason enough to revisit Saint-Forgeuil.
The church was a tiny rectangular building, with a bell gable not dissimilar to those one sees often in Provence. It was impossible to walk around the church, because there was a house on either side of the church, and the space between house and church was closed with a gate; hence it was impossible to make a nice overall picture of the church.
Despite this, we could add another interesting church to our list of visited churches.
In front of the altar lies a tombstone, on which the writing is illegible. Legend has it that it covers the tomb of a bishop; more likely it is the tombstone of the last Dame of Brancion, Fauquette de l'Épervière.
For some more pictures of the church, click here.

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Church Saint-Ferréol in Saint-Forgeuil (Bresse-sur-Grosne), ?th century, 0*

For our own website, click here.

Interior of the church of Saint-Forgeuil

The threshold village

The village of Sercy is better known with us as the threshold village.

Château in Sercy

The first thing one sees when one enters the village is a speed reduction sign of 30 km/h, and that sign certainly is very useful. If you even dream of crossing the many speed ramps in the village at 32 km/h, afterwards you can drive straight away (if at all possible) to the nearest garage to have new shock absorbers fitted.
Reducing speed here has another advantage; from the through going road one has a stunning view of the Sercy castle. The castle is located next to the church, reason why I thought that reference to the castle chapel on le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne was referring to this church. However, the first stone for this church was laid in 1846, so it simply could not be very Romanesque.

The castle chapel in Sercy

Eduard however knew, that next to the castle there stood another, Romanesque chapel. And even though the château is privately owned, the grounds around it are open to the public, the medieval kitchen of the castle at ground level can be visited, and the chapel is also accessible. Until the new church was built, the chapel acted as the local parish church.
Unfortunately the original arcade acting as bell tower has disappeared.
The interior of the chapel is very gaudy, and though I do not know from which period these decorations are, they do not seem Romanesque to me. From other churches with similar decorations, for which the year is given on the information panels, I would say that the interior was (re-)decorated in the 19th century.
However, I will happily accept a better opinion!

For more pictures of château and chapel, click here.

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Former chapel Saint-? (castle chapel) in Sercy, 12th century, 2*

For our own website, click here.

The castle chapel in Sercy - interior

Near by

Of course it is fun to know something about a subject an expert on this subject does not know. On the other hand, this is not so spectacular when realising that the field of expertise covers a huge area (in this case all Romanesque churches in Burgundy) and knowing that the "church" in question is built against a village hall in Cormatin, hidden away on the knoll Saint-Roch at the edge of the village.

Interior of the chapel Saint-Roch - Cormatin

Because we are quite involved in all sorts of volunteer work in Cormatin, we regularly have to be in the village hall Saint-Roch. The hall is used for all sorts of festivities, such as the yearly dinner for the old age pensioners, the yearly bingo, the start of the yearly walks around Cormatin, etc. Tables have to be arranged and laid, chairs have to be set up, in a word, there is a lot to be done throughout the year. Tables and chairs are stored in a separate room. Only after all chairs and tables have been taken out, it becomes clear that the room is semicircular, and that it resembles a chapel. And that is what it once was, a chapel belonging to an old leper colony.
Anyway, this proves that shifting tables and chairs can be instructive!

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Former chapel (storage space) Saint-Roch in Cormatin, 12th century, 1*

For our own website, click here.

Exterior of the chapel Saint-Roch - Cormatin

And now for something completely different!

Whenever I cycle down the Voie Verte from Chazelle to Cluny (formerly a railway, now a cycle track), somewhere half way I pass by a rather strange building.

The former church of Cotte (Cortambert)

Just past the former station of Massilly lies an old farm, and half of the farmhouse seems to be an old church. The church-like building appears to have been the church of Cotte, a hamlet belonging to the commune of Cortambert. The pointer on the map points to the restaurant "Au Pont de Cotte"; the church itself lies approx 200 m to the east, on the other side of the old railway.
This was the church that once was home to the baptismal font in the chapel of Collonges (see the previous blog), although I did not know that at the time.
When I told Eduard about this church, he acknowledged having heard about it, although he did not have pictures of it. We are again talking ancient history, because now one can find my pictures on this page.
A similar building can be found only a stone throw away from our house.

The former chapel of Coureau (Bray)

This farm lies approx. 800 m south of the pointer (La Tuilerie de Chazelle). The chapel is built against a farm house, the ferme de Coureau, and it is part of the village of Bray. We found out about this chapel through one of our campers who did a walk in the vicinity, and accidentally stumbled upon it.

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Former church (storage space) Saint-Laurent in Cotte (Lournand), 11th century, 3*
Former chapel (storage space) Saint-Jean-du-Bois in Ferme Coureau (Bray), ?th century, 0*

For our own website, click here.

The former chapel of Coureau (Bray)

Romanesque or not, that is the question

The last signpost to something Romanesque, along the road between Chazelle and Cluny, refers to “Collonges Chapelle Romane”.
This chapel is a cute little one, in the hamlet of Collonges (commune of Lournand). Inside the chapel there are some drawings or paintings made by Michel Bouillot (1929-2007), a writer and well known artist who has made pen drawings of almost each stone in every Burgundian house in our department.

The chapel in Collonges

I seem to remember that there was no reference to this chapel on le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne, but I cannot reproduce the correspondance between Eduard and myself on this subject. I think that I sent him some pictures of this chapel, and that his answer was that he could not find anything Romanesque on the photographs, and hence that the chapel did not qualify for an entry on his site; it was simply not a Romanesque chapel.
However, when I sent him another photograph of an information panel I had found in the church, where it was explained that the baptismal font in the chapel originally came from the Romanesque church in Cotte (in the commune of Cortambert), he changed his mind. As of then Collonges is mentioned on his site, albeit in the category 1 or 2 stars.
Lournand appears to have more to offer then the church, chapel and castle from the previous blog!

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Chapel Saint-Laurent in Collonges (Lournand) 11th century, 0*

For our own website, click here.

The baptismal font from Cotte

A Comedy of Errors

Between Chazelle and Cluny there are three different road signs, all three referring to something Romanesque. One of those signs refers to the village of Lournand.

the church of Lournand

After the quest for the Romanesque church of Massilly (see the previous blog) I decided that I could crack this one as well. Both churches, that of Massilly as wel as that of Lournand look from a distance very similar, and could have been built, as far as I could guess, in roughly the same period. On le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne I found under the 1 or 2 star churches for Lournand a former church Saint-Hubert, no pictures available.
The pictures item could be solved easily. On a fine day we drove into Lournand. The church is prominently present, and inside the church, which was obviously still in use, I found a pamphlet telling something about the history of the church. The church had been completely rebuilt in the 19th century (which confirmed my guess), but the crossing, i.e. the base of the bell tower, was the only remaining part of the original, 11th century Romanesque church. The plot thickened even further, because not only was this NOT a former church, it was also dedicated to Sainte-Marie, not to Saint-Hubert.

The cupola with trompes, church of Lournand

One of my questions to Eduard concerned the completeness of his site. He answered thus:

"Completeness is difficult to achieve, but certainly my goal. All acknowledged Romanesque churches of the calibre of Chazelle (hence 3 stars or more) are mentioned on my site. The lists of 1 or 2 star churches are most likely not 100 % complete (a church containing a Romanesque part of a wall already qualifies for an entry), but are certainly as complete as possible."

Eduard was obviously not aware of this church, since it certainly contained something Romanesque.
I had all of a sudden a new riddle to solve: where was the former church Saint-Hubert? Knowing Eduard a bit better by now I hoped to be able to crack this mystery soon. However, the Lournand story was not over yet. When we left the church we saw a vague acquaintance sitting on a balcony of the house opposite the church. We knew she lived in Lournand, but we never knew where. She asked us in, and after some chitchat she told us that the other side of her house had a beautiful view on the château. A château in Lournand? Never heard of!

The castle of Lournand

And indeed, one of her rooms had a nice view, it looked out over a ruin, possibly of an old fortress. However, it could also have been the remains of an old factory. What we saw was a very long bit of wall from which 9 pieces of walls were protruding like raised fingers.
After having said goodbye, we decided to leave the village via a different road. We were quite surprised to find all of a sudden a long part of a defence wall on the road side, with at a certain point a semicircular part of wall which well could have been a defence tower.
As soon as we reached home I sent Eduard an email wit questions concerning the Sainte-Marie of Lournand and the Saint-Hubert.
The answer came almost instantaneously with a photograph of the chapel Saint-Hubert; that turned out to be the piece of wall I had assumed to be a tower.
 Looking back now, this seemed to be a comedy of errors. I thought Eduard had made a mistake in the name of the church, and Eduard thought that Lournand church had nothing Romanesque.
Who will maintain, after reading this story, that coincidence does not exist?

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Church Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption in Lournand, 11th century, 0*
Former chapel (ruin) Saint-Hubert in Lournand, ?th century, 0*
Castle (ruin) of Lourdon in Lournand, 11th century, 0*

For our own website click here.

Chapel Saint-Hubert in Lournand

A persistent misunderstanding on my part

When we go to Cluny, and that happens at least twice a week, we always pass through the village of Massilly. And every time we pass the main street there, we see a sign saying "Eglise romane".

The church of Massilly

The church is perched on a hill top, and when we climbed up there to have a look at this church, we were not really impressed, to say the least. But what is printed in black and white must be true, so this was obviously a very boring, uninteresting, Romanesque church. Because there was no mention of this village and church on le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne, and because I did not want to be told that I had it wrong again (!), I searched the internet for more information.
The church goes back to 1856, and was built near the demolished, most likely Romanesque Saint-Denis. However, this did not exactly solve the mystery of the sign "Eglise romane". A couple of weeks after the discovery of the birth date of the church, and after passing the sign along the road for the 200142-nd time, all of a sudden a penny dropped.

Directions in Massilly

On one side of the road there were three signs : “Flagy”, “Salornay / Guye” and “Eglise Romane”.
On the other side there were two : “Flagy” and “Eglise Romane”.
The sign obviously did not refer to the church of Massilly at all; most likely it was referring to the church in the nearby village of Flagy! And Flagy was certainly mentioned on Eduard's unsurpassed list of Romanesque churches, albeit without pictures.
The next time we came back from a shopping spree in Cluny we turned off at Massilly and followed the signs to Flagy, and bingo, that is where we found a cute Romanesque church.
In the meantime Eduard has incorporated some of my pictures on his web page for Flagy.
That it took me about 7 years to figure out that the sign did not point to Massilly church, but to that of Flagy, makes one wonder about one's faculties....

For some more pictures of the church of Flagy, click here.

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Church Saint-Thibaud in Flagy, 12th century, 3*

For our own website click here.

The church in Flagy

I wouldn't be seen dead there

One day I discovered on le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne that there were two churches in the capital of our canton Saint-Gengoux-le-National, one church with 3 star status dedicated to Saint-Gengoult, and another, former church with 1 / 2 star status dedicated to Saint-Gengoul.

The "new"church of Saint-Gengoux

A question was emailed to Eduard, and the answer arrived promptly. It said:

"Saint Gengoux, indeed two monuments. The first is the well known church, which has its own page on my site. The second one is unknown; there are remains of a 10th century predecessor of the other church, in the cemetery. I don't have any pictures of that one, do you know it?"

I am always in for a little treasure hunt. Saint-Gengoux is the place where we buy our wine from the pump, where we are actively involved in the Office de Tourisme, in a word, we come there quite often.

Medieval facade in Saint-Gengoux

On top of that, the town boast a nice small medieval centre, and it is unrivalled as a tong twister with our camping and gîte guests. Most people don't come much further than "Saint-Jen-Joo-mumble-mumble..." The J is pronounced as in John. Absolute champions are two regular campers; For them Saint-Joo is more than sufficient. It is quite obvious : we have a soft spot for Sen-Jean-Goo.
One day, it was dry, but there was a threat of rain, we went to Saint-Gengoux and entered the graveyard there. In the middle of it, amongst the gravestones stood a little building, which could well be a small part of a possible church. The door was locked, but I managed to take some pictures of the outside before the clouds opened.
Eduards answer came in promptly:

"Wow, that was quick! So the chapel exist, this must be it. However, I do not see any Romanesque traces on the outside, so maybe we should doubt the possibility that the church was built in the 10th century. Or would there be traces on the inside?". Talking of Unemployment Relief Works!

For all my pictures of this church, click here.

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Former chapel or church Saint-Gengoul in Saint-Gengoux-le-National, 10th (?) century, 0*
Was taken off the website, for reasons explained in a later blog (to be published).

For our own website click here. 

The choir of the original church of Saint-Gengoux

Again : a wall with Opus Spicatum

In a book about Cluny, which I regularly consult, I had found reference to a church called Saint-Mayeul, dedicated to the 4th abbot of Cluny, the predecessor of Saint-Odilon.

The remains of the church Saint-Mayeul in Cluny

The book is called “Cluny en 200 questions/réponses”, written by Gérard Thélier, a colourful and well known inhabitant of Cluny who knows a lot about Cluny's history. The description of the church was brief : the only remaining wall of the church is visible from the road behind Tour Saint-Mayeul. Fortunately there was a photograph of the wall, so at least I knew I did not have to look for a low garden wall. The website le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne mentioned the church, but had no pictures available.
Armed with my bible, and hence with a photograph, and knowing where to find the Tour Saint-Mayeul, on a fine day I went into Cluny.

The remains of the church Saint-Mayeul in Cluny

The tower was easy to find, it was opposite Cluny's cemetery. And indeed, the church wall is clearly visible from the Chemin des Trépassés. It is part of a private residence, and when I walked around the building it also seemed that the fortified walls of old Cluny were built against the house.
For all my pictures of this former church, click here.

After my visit to the former Sainte-Marie in Bonnay I feel like I am an expert in recognising "Opus Spicatum". That must be something typically Dutch, because every Dutchman who has ever eaten shawarma or hummus will adevertise him or herself as a Middle East expert!

Opus Spicatum - Saint Mayeul in Cluny

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Former church (ruin, habitation) Saint-Mayeul in Cluny, 10th century, 0*

For our own website, click here.

A clandestine church?

I found a reference to a former church Saint-Odilon in Cluny on the website le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne, a church with one or two stars. The site distinguishes buildings with a number of stars, ranging from 6 to -combined- 1 & 2 stars. For reference : Cluny III has a 6 star rating, the bit of church wall in Bonnay has a 1 / 2 star rating.

Porte Saint-Odile in Cluny

We know Cluny quite well, but I had never heard of a Saint-Odilon church. However, we knew the Saint-Odile gate, or Porte Saint-Odile.
After consulting Eduard van Boxtel we learned that what he mentioned on his site were the remains of the choir of a small church, mentioned for the first time in 1075. The chapel is dedicated to the 5th abbot of Cluny, who died at the end of 1048 or beginning of 1049 during a visit to the priory of Souvigny (03). Saint-Odilon shares a grave there with his predecessor Saint-Mayeul.
Only after I received more information about the location of this "church" the penny dropped. The "church" was a bay of the choir, located inside a private house along the Rue du 19 Mars 1962, just outside the Gate Saint-Odile.
Did we not, long time ago, visit a private house around there, on one of the Journées du Patrimoine, which opened to the public just for those days? And were we not a bit cheesed off then, after having paid € 1 in order to have a quick look at the remains of some Romanesque columns, capitals and arches half built in a wall?

Grave of Saint-Odilon en Saint-Mayeul in Souvigny (03)

It was not so difficult to retrace our steps, even though we went there several years ago. In the meantime the gate was equipped with two signs, one saying “Site Clunisien”, the other “Saint Odilon 1064”. This was indeed the house we had seen before. The question was: how to get in this time. I walked towards the house and saw that somebody was home; I started pacing up and down, in the hope that someone might spot me. That happened quickly. The owner came outside, asked what we were doing in her garden, was happy with my explanation that we had seen the signs, that we were very interested in Romanesque churches, and that we would be very grateful if we could actually have a quick look inside the house. When she asked how we knew about this church I fibbed, telling her that we were on holiday on a quest for Romanesque churches. I must have hit the right note, because we were asked in, and I even could take some pictures, with the restriction that I would not publish them on the internet.
And funnily enough, this time it was different. We knew that we were looking at the remains of the oldest still existing church in Cluny, and that made it just that little bit more interesting than the first time we saw these remains.

Location of the former church Saint-Odilon

A promise is a promise, hence I cannot place any of the pictures I took there in this blog, other than the ones everybody can take from the public road. As compensation however this blog has pictures of the Porte Saint-Odile and of Saint-Odilon's and Saint-Mayeul's grave in Souvigny.
For those who cannot wait till the next Journées du patrimoine (early September) : the owner is a very friendly woman, and she was more than happy to show us around.
My little white lie however is still haunting me every so often. Since our second visit to her house I have bumped into her on several occasions, ducking away each time just in time. Because I would feel really stupid to be tackled for this little fib. So every time I am walking through the streets of Cluny I am ready to duck behind someone else, a tree, a pillar, just not to be seen by her!

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Former chapel (habitation) Saint-Odilon in Cluny, 11th century, 0*

For our own website, click here.

The Wailing Wall

As I have mentioned before, the website "le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne" offers a big variety of data on the subject. Reading through the churches in the vicinity I stumbled upon Bonnay, a village just down the road. The site mentioned about the church : dedicated to Sainte-Marie; a former church; a building that does not rank very high when it comes to impressive architecture.
I am not a Roman Catholic, and I am certainly no expert when it comes to architecture. Despite this I think that even a lay man can see that this church cannot be much older than 150 year. And to which Saint this church could be dedicated is something I certainly could not even start to guess.

The new church in Bonnay

Eduard van Boxtel held the key to this mistery. The building of this church (the Sainte-Marie) commenced in 1881. However, before that time there had been another Sainte-Marie; the original church was demolished at the end of the 19th century. The only thing that rests was a piece of wall, with stones laid in a herringbone pattern (this is called Opus Spicatum by those in the know).
I like puzzles, but how does one find a piece of wall with a herringbone pattern? The pattern I knew from other churches, like the Saint-Laurent in Tournus, but was it hidden in the wall of a residence, or in the wall of the new church? In a word, how does one find this bit of wall?
First we asked some friends who lived near Bonnay, but without success. Next we found out that the mairie of Bonnay was open on a Tuesday morning, so that was the day to go there. Fortunately the mayor was at the mairie, and he knew where to find this wall. According to him it was a piece of garden wall at the Place de l'église, near the new church, on a little border with some shrubs. The mayor made it very clear that all resemblance with a proper church would be purely coincidental.
Anyway, we went to the Place de l'église and found a small garden wall, not even 3 feet high and a couple of yards long, in which the herringbone pattern was easily recognisable.
For all my photographs on the subject, click click here.
One thing is sure; if there are more of these hidden or lost churches around here that need to be found, we will not become bored very soon!

The remains of the old church in Bonnay

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) :
Former church (ruin) Sainte-Marie in Bonnay, 10th century, 1*

For our own website click here.

Why not still another blog?

Quite some time ago I stumbled upon a website about Romanesque architecture in Burgundy, le site sur l'Art Roman en Bourgogne, which is a subject I am certainly interested in. This site (in French) suggested that it was an inventory of every Romanesque church in Burgundy. Please note the word every!
My first impulse was to look up the church in our own village, Chazelle. Not being hampered by lack of patience I could not find Chazelle, at least not in the alphabetically ordered list of thumbnails of churches, hence I decided to contact the web master of this site. Mr. van Boxtel, a Dutchman running this site answered promptly; below the list of thumbnails were more lists (only text) of churches in this area, and lo and behold, Chazelle was mentioned there. I found soon out that if there was a thumbnail shown on the site, there were more pictures of the church available; was a place only mentioned in the lists there were no pictures available, at least not yet. Obviously then there were no pictures for Chazelle (now there are!).

The church of Chazelle by night

Since that first set of emails I have been in regular contact with Mr. van Boxtel, and we have found consensus with respect to how we could benefit from each other. If I have questions on the subject I can ask him, and in exchange he has by now received all the pictures I have ever taken of Romanesque churches in mainly Saône-et-Loire. So bit by bit my knowledge increases and his site becomes more and more complete. This way everybody is happy!
During our contact, which is still continuing, Mr. van Boxtel posed the question whether I was going to do "anything else" with my own pictures in the future. I had never given that any thought, apart from using some photos in an occasional blog, but his question made me think of writing a blog about the lesser known churches in the area, and mainly the ones which are mentioned on his site, but of which he does not want to (for whatever reason) publish any pictures.
And that is what the next blog posting will be about! 

Practical information (courtesy of Eduard van Boxtel) : 
Church Notre-Dame in Chazelle (Cormatin), 12th century, 3*

For our own website click here.