Saint-Généroux - Priory Church

A legends tells, that in the 6th century a monk named Generosus (now "Saint-Généroux"), chose to leave abbey in Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes, and to retire here to a hermit life, just 7kms east of the large abbey.
He died in 521, when already a community existed here. His relics were venerated inside the church, that later was the center of a priory, making it to a stopover for the pilgrims heading to Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes.

A church existed here already in Carolingian times, the church seen here dates back to the 10th century, what means the former Priory Church is one of the oldest structures in the Poitou. What is seen from outside is the result of a rebuilding- and reconstruction process of the 19th century, that is very much disputed. Fortunately the interior of the church was not changed at that time. The apse, ween here, was added to the pre-Romanesque structure within the 12th century. It was not "remodelled" later by renovations.

Since the French Revolution the former Priory Church serves the parish of the small village (pop. 300).