Saint-Hilaire Church, Melle, France

The church of Saint-Hilaire was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the World Heritage Sites of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France. The Romanesque church was built in the 12th century to the site of older wooden building.

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Merry Michael (10 months ago)
Beautiful Romanesque church inside and out. The overhanging narthex gives an impressive image of the whole. Beautiful stained glass windows but the contemporary heart really spoils the whole thing, too bad.

Steph Grollier (21 months ago)
Top.

David Cameron (4 years ago)
Most unusual layout for a church, lower alter than entrance. Beautiful town. Very pretty architecture. Fascinating history.

francette livreau (5 years ago)
Reel

Peter Wilson (5 years ago)
A beautiful and historic old church set on the slope of a valley with a modern altar setting which is unusual. The landscape setting with a small river running through it is in a contemporary French style. There are one or two nice houses and gardens above the church that are good to look at. Cross the road below the church and walk back up to Melle through elegant old streets.

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Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.

The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).

Saint-Hilaire Church

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