Collégiale Saint-Martin de Candes-Saint-Martin

Candes-Saint-Martin

It was here, in a cell adjoining one of the churches he had founded, that Saint Martin died on 8 November 397. At once broke out one of the most famous quarrels in the Christian history of the Loire: the people of Poitou and of Touraine disputed the body of the wonder-worker. Gregory of Tours relates that the Poitevins, who were standing guard, miraculously fell asleep; the Tourangeaux then passed the body out through the window and carried it by boat down the Vienne and then the Loire to bring it back to Tours. Tradition adds that as the body passed, in the middle of November, the riverbanks burst into flower: this is the legendary origin of "Saint Martin's summer". On the very spot where the saint died now stands a collegiate church of the 12th–13th centuries, blending Romanesque and Angevin Gothic, fortified in the 15th century — one of the few fortified churches in Touraine, served from 848 by a college of twelve canons. Visitors can see the chapel of Saint-Martin, to the left of the choir, which marks the traditional site of the saint's cell, beneath an inscription: "here Saint Martin died". The north porch and its statuary rank among the finest sculpted ensembles of the Loire Valley, and a stained-glass window of 1881 depicts the night-time removal of the body. From the mound above the village, the panorama over the confluence, itself a protected site, explains on its own why this promontory was always a place of passage and of memory. A stage on the European Saint Martin route.

Getting there : Village at the confluence of the Vienne and the Loire, between Chinon and Saumur (D751/D7). Collegiate church on the place de l'Église, free admission during the day (parish church still in use for worship, listed as a monument historique since 1840). Coordinates given for the building.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound