The Cliff Church of Saint Amandour

On our way to Rocamandour, we stopped at various chateaus and points of interest to take pictures. In between the communes of Mareuil and Perigord we found a chateau in ruins. Sacked by the French revolutionaries, the building was being painstakingly restored by a charming elderly couple (I'm going to be random here and say that the sweet lady had the biggest hands I've EVER seen on a woman. Amazing!). The chateau was actually closed for the day, but when the caretakers heard we were from the U.S., nothing could have pleased them more than to have us enter (free of charge no less) and admire their work. And what a labor of love it was! The outer walls, chapel and dining hall were all under construction, with the dining hall mostly completed. Within the hall were period pieces of furniture, tapestries, paintings, dishes and cookware, a suit of armor, and many other interesting objects which we were not permitted to take photographs of, in order to preserve them from light exposure and wear. The chapel...was neat, but like so many things for me personally, it increased in fascination and value when I learned it's history. Charlemagne himself, and later King Louis IX, attended services there, only neither sat in the chapel with the peons. Both took their seat high above the other worshipers in a small alcove about fifteen feet up. I'm assuming there were stairs to this prodigious perch, even though I didn't see them. And no, I don't have a picture of it...my camera has failed me for the last time!! I want to replace it - but don't tell the camera yet or it may go on strike. Anyhoo! Here's another bit of random rambling...who's more famous: Louis IX or Charlemagne? I mean, Charlemagne is Charlemagne, considered to be the father of Europe (who doesn't know about him?) but Louis IX was canonized by the Catholic Church...does that make him more important? I don't know. Moving on...

More pictures of the Chateau:
We continued on our merry way, snapping pictures and laughing as we went.
And, of course, since my family loves me they stopped along the way so that I could visit a French cemetery. I find cemeteries in general to be very fascinating and this one was amazing in the variety of stones, crypts, and statuary. I even found a small chapel, which put me in mind of Nobody Owens and his guardian Silas from The Graveyard Book (which is really good by the way). Plus, everything was decorated with flowers since it was just past All Saints Day.

Jaime's best zombie impersonation...After more driving under overcast skies and through patches of rain we finally arrived at...


The building at the top is a chateau which was built to defend the sanctuary from invaders. From the top there is a path, a pilgrimage trail, which goes through a series of switchbacks. At each bend there is a shrine, one for each of the apostles. This one is Peter's (I think! My French is TERRIBLE!).





The path opens to a wider road leading to the religious epicenter, which contains several sanctuaries. One is Notre Dame, or the Church of the Blessed Virgin, which houses a black, wooden Madonna said to have been carved by Saint Amandour, who also built that particular sanctuary. Additional sanctuaries were also built, the church of St. Michel, the church of St. Sauveur, and the sanctuary of St. Amandour, all carved into the cliff face.

Louis IX visited here too, along with Blanche of Castille and Roland and Henry II of England. I wonder if that is why Louis was made a Saint...he went to church a lot. No word on whether he had his own private chair fifteen feet above everybody else for Mass though.

Scenes of Rocamandour:

The town below the sanctuary has changed from a village whose economy was supported by religious pilgrims to an economy supported by tourists. It was, therefore, full of shops selling all sorts of items that you'd buy in a moment of "I'm on vacation!" disregard for your finances. We were strong though and resisted...it was hard. Maybe it would have been easier to be tempted if we hadn't had to go up and down a million stairs...or if they were selling bottled water at the bottom. I'm just saying. We drove home through the rain and dark at "unsafe speeds" (ha-ha-ha!) telling silly stories and playing car games (name fruits, cities, states, etc. that start with "A") and arrived back in Angouleme for our last night there before heading north toward Paris. (Yee-ha! We got to move our parents out of ANOTHER house!) Oh, and Heather and Mom bought hats at a stop on the way back...now we ALL had hats (even Dad) except for Aunt Laraine. That woman has serious powers of resisting peer pressure!