Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Saint-Junien Abbey of Nouaillé-Maupertuis, located in the Miosson valley near Poitiers, finds its origins in the seventh century with the installation of monks of Saint-Hilaire seeking solitude. At the beginning of the ninth century, under Father Godelin, the monastery adopted the Benedictine rule and built a church with an crypt to house the relics of Saint Junien, transferred in 830. A Carolingian sarcophagus decorated with motifs inspired by oriental fabrics, always visible, bears witness to this time.

In the 11th century, under Abbé Constantine and with the support of the Counts of Poitou, the abbey reached its peak. The nave of the church, originally carpented, is rebuilt with thin walls, while the transept, one of the first in Poitou, is built. In the 12th century, the nave was vaulted in stone, reinforced by quadrilobed columns and broken arches, and an octagonal dome bell tower, inspired by Carolingian traditions, was erected to the west. The carved capitals, representing scenes from the New Testament or animal motifs, enrich ornamentation.

The 14th century marked a decline with the Hundred Years' War: the abbey was fortified with a precinct and suffered a relaxation of monastic discipline. In the 16th century, it began, and Abbé Raoul du Fou, also bishop of Evreux, built a flamboyant Gothic abbey house (now town hall). In 1569, the Protestant troops of Coligny looted and burned the abbey, destroying the choir, cloister and dormitories. The reconstruction, slow for lack of means, stale from 1645 to 1690, with Gothic vaults for the transept and a straight bedside replacing the primitive abside.

After the Revolution, the abbey became a parish church. In the 20th century, restorations saved the building, classified as Historic Monument since 1846. The remains include three crypts (including a column of the fifth century), 13th century moat and ramparts, as well as Romanesque murals. The site also preserves a 12th century heating room and a staircase with screws, testimonies of medieval monastic life.

The abbey illustrates the architectural and religious evolutions of the Poitou, from the Carolingian origins to the commende, through the destruction of the wars of Religion. Its painted sarcophagus, its historic capitals and its dome-shaped bell tower on trunks make it a rare example of mixed Roman and Gothic art.

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