We spent the weekend with some friends about two hours from here and yesterday morning visited two churches in the village of Oloron. The first one was built in the 4th century and was really incredible.


Someone please rotate the pictures, as I don't know how to do it.

This is one of the front doors. The doors are about 18 feet tall and 6 feet wide. They are built from horizontal and vertical oak planks 2" thick that are nailed together at every one of the metal ornaments you can see. I can't imagine what hey weigh but they haven't moved a bit.


Inside there was this marble monument listing the bishops in this church from the beginning. You can see that until 988 AD they were Romans. The seat of the Catholic church's power in the southwest of France moved from Oloron to Bayonne, (near where we live) in 1801.

All of these churches have one or more of these pulpits on the side of the hall. I don't know exactly how they were used or by whom, but they are interesting.


In the second church, older than the first one, there were graves under the stone floor all dating from the 1600s and 1700s. Obviously important figures to be buried in the church.

It was amazing to see the stone work, woodwork and stained glass in each of the churches.




Just thought I'd share

Love a piece of history like that. Old barns, homesteads, churches... really any old building is right up my alley. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing. I’ve had the chance to visit quite a few old churches in Europe, but I don’t temember being in Oloron. In high school I sang in a touring choir and took 2 trips to Europe. I’ve sung in the Notre Dame and many other churches and venues in France, Spain, Germany, Austria and Czech. Old stone churches were the greatest treat. I love the architecture, especially the design for both aesthetics and natural amplification.

The secondary pulpit, if I recall, is called the lectern. It was for speaking and reading by non-clergy, since the main pulpit was reserved only for priests. You might also know this, but the wooden “hood” over the top of the pulpits is a soundboard for reflecting/amplifying the voice of the speaker. Early Catholic architects were incredible acoustical engineers.
I don’t know if you’ve ever visited it, but the Notre Dame in Paris actually has many different halls (or auditoriums), and is designed to allow multiple services going on simultaneously with no sound interference whatsoever. No doors and very little absorption, maybe some drapes. Just the shape of stone walls.
Thanks again for sharing and bringing back some memories.

neat,thanks.

Thanks for sharing.

Very cool!

Thanks. The woodwork in those old churches is always impressive.

Beautiful work that was done. Thanks

Thanks for sharing. Great pics. I love old architecture. Not sure if you know but the door has a door within the door and was commonplace for centuries all over. The smaller door forced people to leave their horses and gear and enter through the narrow gate. That is the reference Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7.

Everything that is slightly close to that around here is being torn down. I remember a lot of old buildings that were pre civil war that are gone. And one was a small museum , all the contents were auctioned of to private people and not saved. Thanks for sharing that is amazing the work that was hand done long itme ago......jk

Sorry Adam, but I think the door had another purpose. Prior to and even after the Spanish inquisition, most common people feared for their lives if they crossed the Catholic church. I doubt any horses ever walked inside those walls.

I didn't think of it at the time, but my guess it was a door to use in winter when you wouldn't want the huge doors open.

We may never know for sure, but I know the guy to ask.


Pete

I remember walking through Bamberg, Germany (West Germany at the time) crossing the bridge THROUGH the Rathous (city hall) and realizing that there are places and buildings in this world that were old when my part of it was "found".

Me too! As a kid I wanted to drive around the country taking pictures of anything old, Maybe make a calendar or something. Turned out to be one of the many things not brought to fruition in my youth. Great pic's swift, Thanks!

Another thing about ancient architecture, no electricity or hydraulics. Pick just one feature and determine how it was made and placed into position, then see how many other parts to be built and moved.

Surprising how long they have lasted considering the time it was built I'm sure they keep up but still that's a long time! Any castles around there?

There are castles all over France, but within an hour or so of where I am there are no really big fortressed castles, but many huge chateaus. In the Dordogne region about 4 hours north and east of me there are impressive castles all along the river on big cliffs.


My wife has travelled all over Europe and recently to Russia and she has seen stuff that makes France look second rate. The wealth that these countries had in the past was incredible. If you sold the ornamental gold that is in just half of the churches in Spain you could upset the world gold price in a big way.


I always joke that if you've seen one 12th century church you've seen them all, but when you stand inside one it is impossible to not be moved by the scale and workmanship.

The skills and abilities those people had to create buildings like that with far fewer tool options than we have now are incredible. Thanks for the pics.
Are those vertical archer slits in the stone walls of the turret and center wall above the door?

Awesome pics, my metal detector just broke out in a sweat.

Very cool stuff!

Kyt

I'm not sure but they sure look like it. At the time this church was surrounded by buildings that encircled it almost completely. This village also sits on a hill that commands a view of a great deal of land and two river valleys coming down from the Pyrenees and the Spanish border.

These are taken from the front of the oldest church looking south.




Pete