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- Romanesque art in Médoc
Romanesque art in Médoc
Soulac-sur-Mer possesses one of Gironde’s most beautiful religious edifices – the Notre-Dame-de-la-Fin-des-Terre Basilica.
The basilica was built in the 12th century and was a major stop-off for pilgrims on the Way of Saint James of Compostela. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Saint-Saturnin church in Moulis-en-Médoc boasts a magnificent chevet and provides an outdoor font for pilgrims.
The abbey church and abbey in Vertheuil: The abbey church dates back to the 11th and 12th centuries and is a fine example of Romanesque art, influenced by Saintonge and Poitou. The abbey itself was founded in the 11th century by William VIII of Aquitaine, and housed a community of the Order of Saint Augustine in the 12th century. It was pillaged several times over in the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of Religion, and was rebuilt in the 18th century.
In Ordonnac, only a single wall still stands of a great abbey founded in 1130 and laid waste by the Black Prince in 1355.
Also well worth seeing are the churches in Saint-Médard-en-Jalles and Arsac, which both possess fine Romanesque portals, and those in Benon, Saint-Sauveur and Cissac-Médoc.
