Saint-Pierre in Preuilly's misshapen plan and other little details
And also
The tops
Outside
Outside, we can see four big abutments supporting all the church’s weight. Very impressive!
Above the entrance door, we read "1009", date of the end of the construction: a modern inscription replacing an older one...
A misshapen plan!
Let’s go inside: the church has a main nave with 5 bays. We have here a mix of several architectural trends from Poitou, Berry and Touraine.
It’s a 57 metres long church. The vault is 17 metres high. But do you notice something strange? The nave isn’t aligned on the choir and so are the pillars!
Historians thought the church had been raised on a steep soil near river Claise: architects adapted themselves to that soil as they were raising the church.
Writer Huysmans and abbot Picardat, the priest who restored the church, thought we have here the shape of Jesus Christ on the Cross...
The restoration
As for the successive restorations, the first site dates back to the 15th century, with the add of abutments and flying buttress.
They also altered the church in the 19th century: the bell-tower collapsed in 1867! They reraised this one with coloured and glazed tiles.