Eglise Saint-Vivien - Fontcouverte

Nestled on the hillside of the Escambouille valley, this 12th century church bears the distinctive characteristics of the Saintongean Romanesque style, and this in all simplicity. It is rectangular in plan, ending in an apse with three windows, and its façade opens with a portal consisting of five arches. In the past, on each side of this portal rested a group of columns, whose capitals without sculptures have been preserved. A series of modillions, barely sketched out, decorate the chevet on the outside with strange heads: an animal's head holding a semi-circular object in its teeth, a man's grimacing head, a crudely sculpted woman's face. Between the 13th and 14th centuries, the two bays of the nave were vaulted, but only the entrance bay remains. The remains of a 14th century wall painting depicting the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian can still be seen.