Return to St-Martin-des-Puits

The tiny chapel of St-Martin-des-Puits, perched on the side of an isolated one-lane road south of Lagrasse, exercises a magnetic attraction on our imagination. The snug rectangular nave is actually pre-Romanesque, divided from the small nave by a Visigothic outrepasse arch resting on a pair of marble columns rescued from some lost Roman building. The south transept, dating from the 11th century, has a single small arched window. The north transept has been demolished. The choir is decorated with damaged but still stunning 12-century frescos. The iconographic program is very unusual -- we're still working to decipher parts of it and to make sense of the arrangement as a whole. On our first visit (see blog entry from 11 February), we mostly took pictures of the extant architecture and artwork:

http://picasaweb.google.com/trucknmama/France5#

On our return trip this week, we spent more time examining and lamenting the state of disrepair. The abandoned building is badly damaged. The heavy wooden door is always unlocked and the windows have no glass, leaving this priceless gem exposed to potential damage from visitors and inclement weather. There are a few pathetic signs of attempts at stabilization -- it would be too much to call it restoration -- but the interior continues to deteriorate. Here are some pictures from our second visit. We hope the situation will improve, but the signs are not encouraging.
http://picasaweb.google.com/trucknmama/StMartin2#