The best traffic-free bike rides around Champagnac

A small fresco in the countryside, it's fun and unusual

This Templar chapel was built in the 12th century and renovated in 1706. It was acquired in 1949 by Mr. and Mrs. Frédéric, the current owners, who completely restored it. Since 1986, on August 15 of each year, a mass has been celebrated there.

There is a great children's park

Charming little piece of nature. The chapel (above) can be visited when it is open. A skeleton welcomes you but don't worry, it is very discreet!

A pleasant visit with a passionate guide.

Hilaire de Poitiers (in Latin Hilarius Pictaviensis) is the first bishop of Poitiers actually attested, born around 315 and died in 367. He is also one of the first Latin Christian writers. A fourth-century theologian, he was a great defender of Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism and Sabellianism. He was designated by the title of "Athanasius of the West" because of his energetic and pastoral action in the promotion of Christian orthodoxy. It is a pretty little church that bears his name, and which is in the heart of the village. It presents a most interesting example of a primitive novel. The facade is a tripartite composition with two superimposed registers, without any sculpture, except for the two herringbone cords which frame the second register. At ground level, the 2 blind side bays are narrow and higher than the gate. The upper arcade has five arches resting on columns with bare capitals. The central arch is pierced by a small bay. The simple nave leads to the square under the bell tower. Barrel vaulted, it has a most archaic Romanesque base. The side walls are composed of two levels of arcades of equal height. The lower register is made of two arches on columns, the upper register of three, of which the middle one is pierced by a bay. Some colonens have disappeared. The bell tower is supported on its north face by a staircase. Each side of the staircase is pierced with twin trilobed bays. The whole is topped with a slate spire. The flat chevet is surmounted by a very steep gable rebuilt in the 19th century. It includes an ogival bay, walled from the inside, underlined by a sculpted cordon. Its perimeter is highlighted by a cornice decorated with a frieze with geometric patterns reminiscent of the arches of Guitinières, a neighboring town. As for the modillions that accompany it, some are not lacking in originality, others are very refined. The choir, rebuilt in the Gothic period, occupies two bays with ogival vaults with formers and keys. The ribs fall on groups of small columns with capitals adorned with large ivy leaves. We will notice on the perimeter of the church some old stones engraved with escutcheons and a boat.

Located on the edge of town, at the crossroads of 2 roads of ancient origin, the church is on an elevated position. The openings pierced in the upper part of the walls of the nave (reminiscent of the Languedoc "mirandes") are the most remarkable feature of the monument and seem to attest that the church was, if not fortified, at least fitted out as a refuge. The church has a cruciform plan which was not to be the case originally, because the arms of the transept, whose vaults are very low compared to that of the nave, are connected rather awkwardly to the latter by a incoherent molding system. It is not excluded that these transepts, very wide and each lit, to the north as to the south, by a large oculus obviously late, replaced a transept of more modest size. The fact that the cupola on squinches, decorated in the lower part with modillions in the shape of heads, and surmounted, on the outside, by a beautiful bell tower whose lower part is from the Romanesque period, was not placed according to the use at the crossing, but was moved above the right bay preceding the semi-circular apse, does not plead in favor of this hypothesis. It is more likely that the church originally only had a single nave. A partial collapse profoundly altered, at an early date, the external appearance of the apse by causing the disappearance of 3 of the 5 veneered arches which reinforced it on the outside. However, if we judge by the 2 arches still in place on the south side as well as by the beginning of the arch remaining on the north side, the whole of the apse included a very neat decoration of capitals and corbels ( with a very beautiful female head on the south side and an astonishing bearded head in the northeast corner). The relative abundance and quality of the carved decoration is one of the interesting aspects of the church of Guitinières. The western portal has 3 bare arches, between which are inserted decorative cords, and a 4th arch decorated with "honeycombs". If the capitals of the 3 bays of the nave are of good quality (one of them was recut at the end of the Middle Ages and shows 2 figures of angels), those of the bedside are remarkable: we see men surrounded of monstrous animals caught in vegetal intertwining and an image of Lust. Stylistically, these capitals are very similar to those of the nave of Saint-Eutrope de Saintes. and the intervention of a sculptor from this workshop, the third active on this particularly important site, seems very likely, with however, on the south side and in an inconspicuous location, the unexpected presence of a capital decorated with bare palmettes but very prominent, rather reminiscent of the capitals of the southwest. The furniture of the church of Guitinières is rather poor; at the base of one of the engaged columns of the nave, on the north side, an inscription preserves the memory of the repair of the paving in 1732. The neo-Romanesque altar fits quite well into the volume of the apse; but it is especially necessary to note the presence, in the north crosspiece of 2 Angels Worshipers in stone, which could date from the beginning of the 19th century. and which are most likely the remains of a rather ambitious altar decoration.

From its construction in the 12th century, when Jonzac depended on the parish of Saint-Germain-de-Lusignan, the church only retains its Romanesque bell tower and its apse. For the rest, it is the result of considerable alterations which took place first after the Hundred Years War in the 15th century, where the church was very mutilated, and especially at the end of the 19th century, in a neo-Gothic style. , where it took its current configuration. It is dedicated to Saint Germain. Saint Germain, bishop of Paris (496-576), was probably born in that part of Gaul which is for us now Burgundy, near Autun. It is reported that he studied extensively in Gaul, then in Rome. There, the Emperor Honorius would have conferred on him high offices for his region of origin. He would have lived there for fifteen years with a priest uncle, before being ordained himself and becoming abbot of the Saint Symphorien monastery in Autun. It was from there that he was called to be bishop of Paris. His zeal to call his people to conversion and holiness was illustrated, in particular, by the conversion of King Childebert, son of Clovis and Clotilde. The latter, following the example of Germain, called the "Father of the poor", put order at court, had the church and monastery of Saint Germain des Prés built and distributed abundant alms. He died at the age of 80, in 576. It should be noted that there is another Saint Germain, born around 378 in Auxerre, of which he was the bishop, and died in 448 in Ravenna, thus well before the birth of Germain of Paris. It is to him that the church near the Louvre is dedicated: Saint Germain l'Auxerrois... It is also he who is said to have laid hands on the young Geneviève (v. 422 - v. 502). Four communes in Charente-Maritime bear the name of Saint Germain, and the churches of Beaugeay and Varaize are also under his patronage. His feast day is May 28. its construction in the 12th century, at the time when Jonzac depended on the parish of Saint-Germain-de-Lusignan, the church retains only its Romanesque bell tower and its apse. For the rest, it is the result of considerable alterations which took place first after the Hundred Years War in the 15th century, where the church was very mutilated, and especially at the end of the 19th century, in a neo-Gothic style. , where it took its current configuration. It is dedicated to Saint Germain. Saint Germain, bishop of Paris (496-576), was probably born in that part of Gaul which is for us now Burgundy, near Autun. It is reported that he studied extensively in Gaul, then in Rome. There, the Emperor Honorius would have conferred on him high offices for his region of origin. He would have lived there for fifteen years with a priest uncle, before being ordained himself and becoming abbot of the Saint Symphorien monastery in Autun. It was from there that he was called to be bishop of Paris. His zeal to call his people to conversion and holiness was illustrated, in particular, by the conversion of King Childebert, son of Clovis and Clotilde. The latter, following the example of Germain, called the "Father of the poor", put order at court, had the church and monastery of Saint Germain des Prés built and distributed abundant alms. He died at the age of 80, in 576. It should be noted that there is another Saint Germain, born around 378 in Auxerre, of which he was the bishop, and died in 448 in Ravenna, thus well before the birth of Germain of Paris. It is to him that the church near the Louvre is dedicated: Saint Germain l'Auxerrois... It is also he who is said to have laid hands on the young Geneviève (v. 422 - v. 502). Four communes in Charente-Maritime bear the name of Saint Germain, and the churches of Beaugeay and Varaize are also under his patronage. His feast day is May 28.