“There are a lot of graves under our feet at the Abbaye aux Dames,” notes Muriel Perrin, head of the heritage service. The Heritage Department invites you to take a stroll through the funeral rites, Friday November 15, echoing the “Mortal Concert!” » as part of the Conservatory's professional season. You have to imagine the right bank mainly inhabited by the dead. “We are along the Via Agrippa. In Antiquity, it was a district of necropolises. They were located outside the city, for reasons of hygiene, but not too far away, for easy access. »
In the Middle Ages, “we moved from a cremation ritual to a burial ritual, to have an envelope in the event of resurrection. We also direct the bodies in the direction of Jerusalem,” continues the head of the heritage service. It shows the image of a skeleton found during preventive excavations in 2018, at the foot of the Saint-Eutrope basilica. “If he rises he will have his head to the east, towards the rising sun.”
A skeleton found by Inrap during excavations at the foot of Saint-Eutrope in Saintes in 2018. The tomb is crossed by a pipe installed much later!
City of Saintes
Closer to you, my god
Bones often pile up in the wake of churches. “In the Middle Ages, the closer you are buried to the house of the god, the more protected you are.” This ends up becoming a problem, if we are to believe this chronicle from the 18th centurye century, in Saintes: “Too many corpses in too narrow a land poison the faithful during mass”. “This is the birth of health policies. A decree of 1804 prohibits all burials in churches, temples and places of worship,” says Muriel Perrin. The Saint-Vivien cemetery was established in 1835, that of Saint-Pallais in 1882.
“Too many corpses in too narrow a land poison the faithful during mass”
Thibault Seurin
Many bones were discovered during preventive excavations in Saint-Eutrope in 2018.
City of Art and History Service
Ground plan of the right bank of Saintes in 1695. We see the configuration of the Abbaye aux Dames, with the cloister still intact and small crosses at the level of the Saint-Pallais square.
In the Saint-Pierre cloister, we can still see steles of canons and sarcophagi. During excavations carried out at the Abbaye aux Dames in the 1980s, we came across the tombs of abbesses, buried with their crosiers. This was located in the cloister, which today is part of the courtyard, with its low walls popular with children who frolic there.
On the other hand, “we did not find the graves of the nuns”. Their designated cemetery is probably located not far away, where a garden maintained by the Belle Rive social center grows. Death is well under our feet, as suggested by a map from 1695, where we can see small crosses on the square in front of the Saint-Pallais church.
A double free offer
The “flash visit” leaves from the Geoffroy-Martell theater, Friday at 7:45 p.m. At the same place, at 8:30 p.m., four teachers from the Conservatory, Carole Frerebeau and Laurence Bailly (violin), Stéphanie Cuq (viola), Anne-Roux Brochard (cello) will bring to life a repertoire “Mortel! »: “The Maiden Death”, by Schubert, “The Dance of Death” by Saint-Saëns…
In the same spirit, the Heritage Department will discuss the places where people danced in Saintes, on January 17, before a tango concert; the famous Saintaises, on April 4, in connection with a 100% female program; illustrators and the image in art echoing the “Cartoon Concert”, May 16. Visits and concerts are free.
Related News :