Église Saint-Hilaire de Melle

Melle

Around 1080, the Benedictines of the abbey of Saint-Jean-d'Angély founded a priory south of Melle, on the Via Turonensis, one of the great roads leading to Santiago de Compostela. The present church, raised in the first half of the 12th century, is conceived entirely for the crowds of God's walkers: a nave with aisles, a transept, a choir with an ambulatory opening onto three radiating chapels, where one could circulate around the relics without disturbing the services. Pilgrims entered through the north portal, and there, for eight centuries, the enigma of Melle has awaited them: a crowned horseman whose mount tramples a small seated figure. Is it the emperor Constantine triumphing over paganism, as was long taught? Christ victorious over evil? Or, as excavations carried out in 1984 and the archives suggest, a local lord named Constantine who styled himself "protector of the church" and defender of the people? Mutilated and then restored in 1872, the statue keeps its secret, and scholars still debate it. Inside, the contrast is striking: the nave bathed in light, the distant sanctuary, secret and mysterious, and everywhere capitals carved with hunting scenes, bird-sirens, musicians and fabulous creatures. In 1998, UNESCO inscribed Saint-Hilaire on the World Heritage List among the major sanctuaries of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France — the quiet gold of this ancient town that once struck the kings' silver coinage.

Getting there : Church below the centre of Melle, on the banks of the Béronne, rue du Pont Saint-Hilaire. Parking on site; the famous horseman surmounts the north portal, on the town side, through which the pilgrims entered.

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

Ambient sound