Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame de Corme-Écluse, built in the 12th century in a Saintongese Romanesque style, was given in 1104 by Bishop Ramnulfus Focaudi at the royal abbey of Saint-Jean-d'Angély. This Benedictine priory initially depended on the abbey at the Dames de Saintes. The reconstruction of the sanctuary, completed around 1200, was marked by the addition of an oak statue of the Virgin, now extinct. The western facade, richly carved between 1130 and 1140, illustrates moral themes such as temptation and capital sins, without explicit religious symbolism.

The Latin cross plan, slightly asymmetrical, consists of a two-span nave vaulted in a broken cradle and a transept whose north arm, rebuilt in the seventeenth century, exceeds in length the south arm. The cross of the transept, surmounted by a square bell tower on two levels (roman on the first floor, redone in the 15th century to the second), houses a dome on trunks decorated with mutilated animal heads. The apse and the southern apsidiole, vaulted in cul-de-four, contrast with the austerity of the choir, illuminated by windows in the middle of the cinematography reborn in the thirteenth century.

Ranked a historic monument in 1910, the church underwent several restoration campaigns, including in 1822 (belloon carriage), 1852 (west facade), and 1860 (restored sacristy and capitals). Modillons and capitals, often vandalized, warn against vices such as lust or pride, reflecting the moral concerns of the medieval Church. The adjacent cemetery, moved in 1890, gave way to a public square. Remnants of murals and a canonial dial remain, testimonies of his liturgical and community past.

Inside, the triumphal arch and the square capitals of the transept, decorated with basketry and interlacing motifs, are the only remarkable sculptures. The columns of the bell tower, extended by lions' heads or dragons, recall motifs present in other saintly churches such as Saint-Trojan de Rétaud. The bells, repaired in the 21st century, and the recent lighting of the building underline its continuous maintenance.

The history of the church is also marked by symbolic events: in 1327, a envoy of Pope John XXII prayed there before the statue of the Virgin; In 1628 a pilgrimage was established for his veneration. The statue, mutilated in 17?3, disappeared permanently. The Hundred Years and Religion wars mostly spared the building, unlike other regional monuments. Today, the church remains a preserved example of Saintongese Romanesque art, mixing religious history, defensive architecture and moral symbolism.

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