When we slipped over to the Vienne last week we revisited the abbey of Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes’ history dates back to
the fourth century when a hermit named Jovinus, seeking to escape the world, takes
refuge in the nearby marshes. He founded a small chapel around which a
community developed. Over the centuries the site developed with the demands of
its growing patronage. A number of churches would be built on the site around
the relics of its founder (now St.Jouin)
The abbey consists of a nave with aisles of ten bays,
a transept and choir with ambulatory and surrounding chapels.
The choir and much of the nave received Gothic arches around the thirteenth century.
Details of the corbels.
Monastic life ended here during the French Revolution of
1789 when the abbey was sold as national property but the church is preserved
and was reinstated in 1795.
The building was subject to substantial restoration work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century
The cloister on the left-hand side of the abbey displays artifacts from the abbey's history,
The outside of the abbey holds your attention with its buttresses and fortified towers.
These were added during the 'Hundred Years War'
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