Links to individual  Bellatrovata pages

 

2007 Home Page Ciao Adriano Paradoxplace Domparadox 2006 Home Page 2006 Page List Abbeys Visited Italy June 2006 Spello Infiorata East of Panzano France Alpine Crossing Senanque Abbey Valmagne Abbey Fontfroide Abbey Spain & Portugal Al-Andalus Chronology Poblet Monastery Santes Creus Monastery Rueda Monastery Navarra Sanguesa La Oliva Lyre Abbey Canas Abbey La Rioja S-D de Silos Burgos Villasirga Camino to Burgos Rio Elsa Treasures Leon Camino to Leon S de Compostela Alcobaca Batalha North to Evora Salema Sao Vicente Rabida & Colombus NW Andalucia SW Andalucia Central Spain 2005 Home Page 8 Tuscan Days 2004 Home Page

 

Bellatrovata and Paradoxplace are the creations of Adrian Fletcher

 

All original material © Adrian Fletcher 2000-07 - The contents may not be reproduced without permission.

Feedback and comments to Adrian Fletcher

 

Bellatrovata

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SUMMER IN FRANCE 2006

L'EGLISE SAINT-ETIENNE de VIGNORY

( Built 1032 - 1057 )

( located north of Chaumont in Champagne )

If you want to see an unusually original and extremely old church, on the medieval Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome but right away from the touring circuit, then Vignory is one option.  The nave, apse and ambulatory of L'Eglise Saint-Etienne de Vignory (just north of Chaumont in Champagne) are essentially the same as when they were built in the mid 1000s.  The chapels on the church's south side are five centuries younger - the space they occupy was no doubt originally occupied by a cloister surrounded by monastic buildings.

 

Vignory High from the church's west door

The church was the model for the Abbazia di Sant'Antimo - Tuscany's very old and most beautiful abbey church, built in the 1120s and though there are several major differences, it is certainly true that the two 850 - 950 year old churches share a very similar look and feel inside, and in both cases what you see is essentially what it has always looked like.

The capitals, like the arches, are all different shapes and sizes, and have abstract designs - but medieval sculptors just could not resist the odd little human face !
His and Her sepulchral plates, now wall mounted in a side chapel along with the remnants of a dramatic narrative bas-relief (below).
A little altarpiece in one of the ambulatory chapels

Bellatrovata is the "on the road" travel site for Adrian Fletcher and his main website Paradoxplace.  The photographs and commentary first published here are later extended and added to Paradoxplace, a place full of  the art, books, history and stories of the movers and shakers of Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Renaissance Italy and the East - plus Italian Food and European Photo Galleries. 

Paradoxplace Home Page
Bellatrovata 2005 Home Page

Listing of 2005 Bellatrovata pages
Bellatrovata 2004 Home Page
Link to 3500 photos in Paradoxplace

Medieval European Cathedral and Abbey Pages in Paradoxplace

Links to individual  Bellatrovata pages

 

2007 Home Page Ciao Adriano Paradoxplace Domparadox 2006 Home Page 2006 Page List Abbeys Visited Italy June 2006 Spello Infiorata East of Panzano France Alpine Crossing Senanque Abbey Valmagne Abbey Fontfroide Abbey Spain & Portugal Al-Andalus Chronology Poblet Monastery Santes Creus Monastery Rueda Monastery Navarra Sanguesa La Oliva Lyre Abbey Canas Abbey La Rioja S-D de Silos Burgos Villasirga Camino to Burgos Rio Elsa Treasures Leon Camino to Leon S de Compostela Alcobaca Batalha North to Evora Salema Sao Vicente Rabida & Colombus NW Andalucia SW Andalucia Central Spain 2005 Home Page 8 Tuscan Days 2004 Home Page

 

Bellatrovata and Paradoxplace are the creations of Adrian Fletcher

about bellatrovata.com

 

All original material © Adrian Fletcher 2000-07 - The contents may not be reproduced without permission.

Feedback and comments to Adrian Fletcher