Chauvigny is a small city in western France that has grown from a fortified, medieval hill-town. The old town still contains remnants of several fortresses, a chateau, and a particularly fine Romanesque church, (with byzantine elements). An otherwise featureless keep has been updated to include art and an elegant elevator, providing views over the town.
Just a short distance away is Saint-Savin where the Abbey church attracts visitors. The church is one of the oldest, and most representative, of the French Romanesque style.
The Romanesque church was begun in the mid-11th century and contains many beautiful 11th- and 12th-century murals which are still in a remarkable state of preservation. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983.
The cruciform church carries a square tower over its crossing. The transept was built first, then the choir with its ambulatory with five radial chapels in the polygonal apse. In the next building campaign, three bays of the nave were added, the bell tower and its porch, and finally the last six bays of the nave. The bell tower is finished by a fine stone spire more than 80 meters high, added in the 14th century (and restored in the 19th century).
The barrel vaulted nave is supported on magnificently-scaled column with foliate capitals.
Below the church is the Crypt of the legendary martyr brothers St Savin and St Cyprian, also frescoed with the lives of these two saints.
