Basilique Saint-Eutrope
Founded in 1081 by Guillaume VIII, Duke of Aquitaine, it's actually two churches superimposed on each other with stairs in the nave connecting them. The basilica was built to house the relics of martyred Saint Eutrope with his sarcophagus in the upper church and his skull in the lower church. It has been an important stop on the Way of St. James route to Santiago de Compostela ever since. In 1096, not long after it was finished, pope Urban II visited to preach the First Crusade. In 1886, pope Leon XIII promoted the status of the church to basilica. Basilique Saint-Eutrope is considered an architectonical masterpiece with its Romanesque walls, Gothic choir, 11th century baptismal fonts, paintings and stained windows and one of the largest Romanesque crypts in Europe in the lower church surrounding the sarcophagus of the saint.
- Price
- free
Listing from Wikivoyage: Saintes, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Updated 28 Sept 2026. Something wrong? Tell us.