Eglise Saint-Martin
ChurchHidden Treasure
A Romanesque sentinel in the suburbs of Bordeaux, the church of Saint-Martin in Villenave-d'Ornon boasts a strikingly austere 11th-century choir, enhanced in the 18th century by discreet Baroque decoration typical of the Gironde vineyards.
History
Nestling in the heart of Villenave-d'Ornon, a commune in the inner suburbs of Bordeaux surrounded by the vineyards of Entre-Deux-Mers and the left bank of the Garonne, Saint-Martin church is one of the oldest and most moving architectural landmarks in the Bordeaux area. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city, it offers the attentive visitor an open book on ten centuries of local history. What makes Saint-Martin truly unique is the harmonious coexistence of two architectural souls: an 11th-century Romanesque core, as solid and uncluttered as the faith of its builders, and 18th-century additions that betray the taste for light and ornament typical of the Aquitaine of the Enlightenment. This stratification, far from being a dissonance, creates a dialogue between eras of rare subtlety. The visit begins at the forecourt, where the bell tower-porch exudes the gravity characteristic of Romanesque art from Saintonge and Bordeaux. Inside, the eye is first caught by the thickness of the walls and the modesty of the Romanesque openings, then gradually tamed by the softness of the classical ornamentation adorning the furnishings and side chapels. The local limestone, golden in the afternoon light, lends the whole an almost domestic warmth. The setting itself is well worth a visit: the church is set in an unspoilt semi-rural environment, surrounded by an ancient cemetery where the headstones bear witness to the deep roots of the region's wine-growing families. Just a few kilometres from Château Pape Clément and the Graves estates, Saint-Martin is fully part of the sacred geography that has punctuated the Bordeaux vineyards since the High Middle Ages.
Architecture
The church of Saint-Martin is in the tradition of 11th-century Aquitanian Romanesque architecture, characterised by a simple, robust massing inherited from the building traditions of Saintonge and Périgord. The plan, which probably consists of a single nave or a nave flanked by narrow side aisles, extends into a slightly projecting chancel whose semi-circular apse is the oldest and most valuable part of the building. The walls, which are characteristically thick for Romanesque buildings, are made of local shell limestone, the pale, porous limestone so typical of the Gironde region, which takes on golden hues reminiscent of amber under the setting sun. The bell tower, probably redesigned or rebuilt during the 18th century, has a sober silhouette that dominates the village. The work carried out in the 18th century can be seen mainly in the transformation of the bays, which were enlarged to bring more light into the nave, and in the renewal of the liturgical furnishings. The side altars, painted altarpieces, choir panelling and baptismal fonts reflect the classical Bordeaux taste of the period, influenced by the influence of the workshop of sculptors and carpenters working in the capital of Gironde. The stuccoed decorations, if they have survived, bear witness to the affluence of the surrounding wine-growing parishes. On the exterior, the western facade probably contains Romanesque elements that were incorporated into the revivals of later centuries: sculpted modillions, capitals with plant or animal decoration, and semi-circular archivolts. These lapidary fragments are one of the building's major interests for historians of medieval art in Gironde, enabling it to be linked stylistically to the itinerant workshops that lined the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela through Aquitaine.
Related Figures
Saint Martin de Tours — évêque thaumaturge du IVe siècle, patron de l'église et figure de référence de l'évangélisation de la Gaule ruraleLes archevêques de Bordeaux (XIe-XIIIe siècle) — prélats sous l'autorité desquels fut construite et consacrée l'église romane primitiveAliénor d'Aquitaine (1122-1204) — duchesse d'Aquitaine sous le règne de laquelle la paroisse de Villenave-d'Ornon relevait du domaine ducalLes intendants du Bordelais au XVIIIe siècle (Tourny, Dupré de Saint-Maur) — administrateurs dont l'impulsion modernisatrice favorisa les travaux de rénovation des édifices rurauxProsper Mérimée (1803-1870) — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques dont l'œuvre d'inventaire du patrimoine roman aquitain prépara les classements du début du XXe siècle
