Eglise du prieuré Saint-Martin
AbbeyHidden Treasure
Prieuré roman du XIIe siècle niché dans le Berry profond, l'église Saint-Martin de Vallenay dissimule sous ses badigeons un trésor : cinq siècles de peintures murales superposées, du calendrier roman à la litre seigneuriale baroque.
© Wikimedia Commons
History
In the heart of Berry, in the modest village of Vallenay, stands a church that defies appearances. At first sight simple and silent, the former prioral church of Saint-Martin nevertheless conceals one of the most singular pictorial heritages in the Cher department: layers of wall paintings accumulated over five centuries, much of which is still sleeping under the whitewash, waiting to be woken up. What makes Saint-Martin absolutely unique is the layering of time visible on its walls. You can read history like a palaeographer: a Romanesque calendar of the works of the months, a vestige of a rarely preserved popular medieval iconography; a miraculous fishing in Lake Tiberias, barely hinted at; Christ in Majesty surrounded by the Tetramorph on the east wall of the choir; and even the discreet splendour of a mock 17th-century decoration commissioned by the Lords of Bigny. Each layer is a document. The experience of visiting the church is one of contemplation and simplicity. The disused church is bathed in a silence that encourages slow observation. You take the time to let your eyes adjust to the subdued light, to make out the ochres and reds beneath the plasterwork, to make out the contours of a veiled female face or an almost obliterated quatrefoil. It's a monument that rewards patience and curiosity. The setting reinforces this feeling of being plunged back in time. In the immediate vicinity of the church are the remains of the château of the Lords of Vallenay - a tower and a main building - a reminder that in the 15th century, the priory was enclosed within the seigniorial walls. Together, they form a medieval picture that is almost intact in its rural setting, far removed from mass tourism. For lovers of Romanesque art, medieval painting or simply authentic heritage that hasn't been over-restored, the church of Saint-Martin de Vallenay is a must-see when exploring central Berry.
Architecture
The church of Saint-Martin de Vallenay has a basic longitudinal plan typical of rural Romanesque buildings in Berry: a single nave, covered by a wooden ceiling, communicates with a two-bay chancel via a wide arched arcade forming a diaphragm wall. This link between the twelfth-century Romanesque nave and the flamboyant Gothic chancel built at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is one of the most interesting architectural features of the building, illustrating five centuries of construction practice without any spatial break. The Gothic rib-vaulted choir shows the care that aristocratic patrons took with this liturgical space. The ribs probably fall on culottes or short engaged columns. The seigneurial chapel, added to the south side of the first bay of the choir at a slightly later date, confirms the private status of this choir in the devotional economy of the seigneury. The bays, which were narrow in the Romanesque nave, probably widened in the Gothic choir to let in more light. The architectural value of the building lies less in the quality of its construction - described as humble and having undergone numerous alterations - than in its role as an exceptional support for painted decorations spanning the 12th to 17th centuries. The local materials, probably soft limestone from Berry, make up a sober envelope whose walls are like pages in a medieval picture book.
Related Figures
Chanoines réguliers de l'abbaye de Plaimpied — religieux augustiniens ayant administré le prieuré à partir du XIIIe siècleSeigneurs de Vallenay — famille aristocratique ayant intégré le prieuré à l'enceinte de leur château au XVe siècleSeigneurs de Bigny — commanditaires du décor baroque en trompe-l'œil du XVIIe siècleArtistes peintres romans anonymes — auteurs du calendrier des travaux des mois et de la Pêche miraculeuse (XIIe siècle)Peintre du Christ en Majesté — auteur du Tétramorphe du mur oriental du chœur (fin XVe - début XVIe siècle)
