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Origin and history

Saint-Germain de Poitiers Church is built on the remains of Gallo-Roman thermal baths in the Montierneuf district north of the city. Originally Romanesque, it was named after Saint Germain, bishop of Paris, who died in 576, because of his legendary visit to Abbess Agnes of Sainte-Croix Abbey. This monument, formerly parish of the village, reflects a turbulent history marked by successive architectural transformations.

Between the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century, the northern abisidiole and the bell tower were built, while the nave, originally carpented, was vaulted with warheads in the 15th century after damage caused by the Hundred Years War. In 1531-1532 René Berthelot, then mayor of Poitiers, erected a side chapel. The Wars of Religion also leave traces, as evidenced by the inscription "MAY 1593" engraved on a foothill of the apse after repairs. Degraded in the 19th century when it was used as a barn, the church was rehabilitated in the 1990s to become a concert hall.

The architecture of the building combines Romanesque elements and Plantagenet influences, visible in the northern abisidiole and the ground floor of the bell tower. The latter features an eight-ribed vault adorned with carved figures (masks, cat heads, owl), typical of the angeline art. The nave, composed of two ships of three spans, has keys adorned with a virgin coat of arms, a bishop, and an angel holding a coat of arms with three flowers of lily. The consoles of the collateral, decorated with patterns of kale or bats, as well as the bays in the middle of the abisidiole, illustrate the decorative richness of the monument.

René Berthelot's chapel, although damaged, kept traces of its coat of arms "of gold with three aiglets spread out of azure", now missing with the exception of a hatme on the key of the arcade. Disused after the Revolution, the church experienced a second cultural life by becoming an auditorium for the conservatory of Grand Poitiers, thus preserving its heritage while adapting it to contemporary use.

Ranked a historic monument in 1969, Saint-Germain Church embodies the architectural transformations and historical upheavals of Poitiers, from Gallo-Roman thermal baths to its present function as a place of entertainment. Its state of conservation, noted as "a priori satisfactory" (localization: precision 8/10), makes it a valuable testimony of the religious and civil history of the city.

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