Attractions and Places To See around Ambérac - Top 14

Close to Lichére, a short detour to the unmissable village of Aunac sur Charente, a relaxing break with all shops: bakery, pastry shop, bar, restaurant, general food with local products, butcher, delicatessen, camping, canoeing, guinguette!!

Located in the archpriest of Ambérac, diocese of Angoulême, the conventual priory of Notre-Dame de Lanville, founded at an unknown date, was attached around 1120 to the rule of the canons regular of Saint Augustine. It will remain conventual until its suppression in 1791. The buildings were largely in ruins in 1632 and the difficulties becoming greater and greater, the priory was united with the abbey of Sainte-Geneviève du Mont. The visit reports of 1636 and 1672 indicate that major work was carried out to raise the priory in the second half of the 17th century. The buildings located to the south of the church could be the lodgings of the prior or the chaplain. They include a main building for residential use, flanked by two north and south wings constituting the outbuildings, arranged around a closed courtyard. The partly modern north wing has retained some openings characteristic of the 14th and 15th centuries. A long vaulted cellar of a broken cradle develops under the entire length of this wing. The south wing has semicircular openings alternating with small rectangular bays, no doubt from the 17th century. The rectangular main building opens, to the west, onto a terrace overlooking a pool spanned by a bridge-staircase. The house itself is built on a long barrel-shaped cellar with a basket handle. The church was fortified in the 15th century. In its primitive state, its nave was covered with three domes which collapsed and were replaced, in the 15th century, by ribbed vaults. In 1904, the presence of a channeled stream having weakened the foundations of the building, the facade collapsed.

The early 12th century church has all but disappeared, itself and the reconstructions have suffered from the military conflicts that have punctuated the centuries. You enter through an open portal in a facade which very well announces the architectural juxtapositions. These last give a particular charm to the building by their inconsistencies. They arouse curiosity and ultimately offer the visitor a certain degree of privacy. An organ with the original story has been installed. It is the ultimate work of Ivan Peychès (1906-1978), a genius scientific researcher but also a visual artist, musician and composer. Brilliant innovator in the field of applied sciences, he will build this instrument in his living room in ten years during his retirement.

Nestled between the Charente river and the Boixe forest, the former abbey has watched over the north of Angoumois for over a thousand years. Mentioned in 888, the abbey church was rebuilt in the 11th and 12th centuries, thanks to the generosity of the Counts of Angoulême. This building constitutes an inescapable testimony of the Charente Romanesque art. In the 13th century, a large fire destroyed the site, forcing the reconstruction of the choir of the church, which was not completed until the 16th century. Listed as a historical monument in 1840 on the initiative of Mérimée, this vast monument has always impressed with its mass and its refinement: artists such as Eugène Delacroix and Maurice Utrillo are not mistaken. Each year, more than 13,000 visitors come to discover and appreciate this building with such a rich history. The abbey site has also given rise to several archaeological excavations, enriching the historical and cultural interest of this high heritage site.

Of the castle of Montignac, located in the town of Montignac-Charente, in Charente, only the keep remains. It is built on a terrace overlooking the Charente. Of the enclosure, there remains the gate with portcullis with two round towers at the top of an escarpment, the western part of the enclosure and a round tower.

The church of Saint-Denis in Vars, with the castle to the north, formed an episcopal complex of which the bishop was the lord. Although the church is not mentioned until 1110, the possession of this seigneury by the bishop is attested as early as the 1030s. Probably in connection with the building of the castle to the north, the very sober facade of the church has been altered: one can still distinguish traces of the old bell tower with two arches, in the upper part. The bell tower built on the south arm of the transept is therefore posterior. The apse has the particularity of having been raised in order to fortify it and to fit various defensive elements (heated room, bay windows with cushions, access to gateways, etc.)

Possibility to have a good time on the banks of the vienne where you can find a canoe kayak base. The village also allows you to refuel.

On the route of Saint-Jacques de Compostelle, the fortified abbey remains an imposing building of Romanesque style that can be discovered from the high paths around the village. Possibility of visits to the abbey. A few shops nearby allow you to eat.