Eglise Saint-Pallais de Saintes

Saint-Pallais, one of the bishops of the diocese of Saintes at its origins (6th century) is, according to Gregory of Tours, the one who rediscovered the burial place of Saint Eutrope. His name was given to a suburb which later hosted the Abbaye aux Dames. The church adjoins the Abbaye aux Dames. It presents a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic. The nave dates from the thirteenth century. Palladius, later canonised as Saint Pallais, is, according to Gregory of Tours, the one who rediscovered the tomb of Saint Eutrope. His name was given to the suburb which later became the site of the Abbaye aux Dames. The church has depended on the adjoining Abbaye-aux-Dames since its foundation in 1047. The current building, which is somewhere between Romanesque and Gothic, is the result of several construction phases from the 12th to the 15th century. The church still has Romanesque parts with the lower parts of the walls and some columns and capitals of the vaulted nave. The nave is followed by a transept, onto which two chapels open. The façade of the church, supported by two buttresses, is divided into three horizontal registers. The lower part has a four-vaulted portal flanked by two blind arcades. The side bell tower, of which only the lower part remains, also from the Romanesque period, rises from the northern arm of the transept.