Poitiers

Poitiers sits on a promontory between two rivers and kept an unusual density of early churches. Notre-Dame-la-Grande has the west front people come for: a twelfth-century facade covered edge to edge in carved figures, arcades and friezes running the Old Testament into the Nativity, with conical scaled turrets at the corners; it is periodically lit at night by projected colour reconstructing how it may have been painted. The Baptistere Saint-Jean, parts of it fourth century, is among the oldest Christian buildings in France. Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand has an unusual multi-aisle plan. The cathedral holds carved thirteenth-century choir stalls.

History

Poitiers was founded by the Celtic Pictones as the Oppidum Lemonum, perhaps from the Celtic word for elm, and under Rome became Pictavium; it had an amphitheatre larger than that of Nîmes, whose ruins stood until 1857, baths of the 1st century found in 1877, at least three aqueducts and perhaps the role of capital of Aquitania in the 2nd century, while nearby stands the great dolmen of the Pierre Levée, 6.7 metres long. Its first bishop, Saint Hilary, from 350 to 367, evangelised the town, and the first foundations of the Baptistère Saint-Jean date from that time; in the 3rd century it was enclosed by a wall 2.6 km long. It later fell to the Visigoths, until Clovis defeated Alaric II nearby at Vouillé in 507, and it became the seat of the counts of Poitou; its university was founded in 1431 (Wikipedia, Poitiers).

What to look for

• Notre-Dame-la-Grande - a twelfth-century facade carved over its whole surface.
• The Baptistere Saint-Jean - one of the oldest Christian buildings in France.
• Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand - a wide Romanesque church with an unusual aisle plan.
• The colour projections - summer light shows reconstructing painted facades.

When to go

April to October; the summer Polychromies projections run on evenings from June to September. Churches are free and open by day. The baptistery keeps shorter hours.

What to expect

The facade carving is weathered and best read with binoculars or the projection. The baptistery is small and easy to miss. The city outside the old core is ordinary.

Nearby

Futuroscope lies north; Saint-Savin abbey is east.