Azay-le-Rideau - not the chateau

Azay-le-Rideau was once known as Azay-le-Brulé on account of an 'insult trading session' in 1418 between the Burgundian garrison who held the village and the Dauphin, [the future Charles VII] who was on his way from Chinon to Tours. In reprisal for the insults hurled at him he ordered the garrison executed and burnt Azay. The name le-Brulé was current until the 16th century.

Saint-Symphorien

On previous visits to Azay-le-Rideau we've visited the beautiful Renaissance chateau which we've written about here and here, and wandered its streets; but for some odd reason we never had a look at the church -- something we usually do. Last month we finally rectified the situation.

Part of the earliest façade: possibly as early as 5th or 6th century

The church is special because it has the most lovely façade. Once the church formed part of a monastic settlement that fell under the jurisdiction of the Abbey de Cormery, and it is marked on the Abbey's 11th century maps. However, only the church now remains and functions as the parish church. The rest has long gone but would have stretched out into the grounds of the chateau which lies just beyond the wall in the foreground of the 1st photo.

Detail: top row of figures, Christ in the center

However, well before the 11th century there was an even earlier church on this site. St-Symphorien retains part of a, possibly Merovingian, or Carolingian façade. What remains is what one can see on the right-side; the original single-aisled church. The, probably 6th century, [no one is quite sure just how old it is] façade is dominated by pyramidal or bell-like shapes and rows of figures which the 11th century masons simply incorporated into new larger church they were building. Looking at the way the design has been chopped off it may well be that the 6th century version wasn't gabled, unlike the 11th century expansion. Later in the 13th century a window was punched through the lower row of figures. In the top row one can make out Christ in the center --he's got a nimbus with a cross-- holding a book. To his left are three haloed saints. The figures to his right do not have halos. As with the upper row of figures the lower row has a mix of haloed and non-haloed figures. There are four haloed saints on the left [as you face the building] and three non-haloed figures on the right. Which saints they represent is uncertain, nor have the non-haloed figures been identified. At a guess the latter are prominent ecclesiastics.

Detail: two dogs facing each other

Two other carvings at either end of a corbelled ledge are of hunting dogs. On the left are two dogs facing each other and to the right are another two actively hunting. In this carving on the right [as you look at the front of the church] the leading dog has caught what looks to be a hare and the other dog is chasing it. If you enlarge the photo by clicking on it you should be able to see the teeth the mason carved in the jaws of the first dog. The corbels are carved with what look to be animal heads.

Hunting dog with [probably] a hare being chased by another dog.

Much later, in the very late 15th/early 16th century the church was again enlarged and a second nave was added. This left-hand side façade has a more steeply gabled roof line and the window above the door is in the flamboyant gothic style typical of the very late middle ages.