Saintes and the Saintonge

Arch of Germanicus

Saintes was once Mediolanum Santonum, capital of the Santones, the Gaulish people who gave their name to the Saintonge. In the early Empire, the town became the first capital of the province of Aquitaine and the end point of the Via Agrippa, which linked it to Lyon. In AD 18 or 19, a local notable, Caius Julius Rufus, had a two-bay arch built at the entrance to the bridge over the Charente, dedicated to Tiberius, his son Drusus and his adopted son Germanicus, hence its name. The arch is 15.80 metres wide, 14.71 metres high and 3.90 metres deep, and the inscription running along the entablature names the donor and his Gaulish lineage. In the 19th century the old bridge, by then in ruins, was due to make way for new quays, taking the arch with it. Victor Hugo, passing through Saintes in September 1843, and Prosper Mérimée, inspector of historic monuments, secured its dismantling and re-erection on the right bank, 28 metres from its original site. Listed as a historic monument in 1905, it belongs to the town.

Gallo-Roman amphitheatre

Begun under Tiberius and completed around AD 40, under Claudius, the Saintes amphitheatre is among the oldest in Gaul. The architects used a natural valley west of the ancient town to seat the terraces, which reduced the masonry needed and explains its good state of preservation. The building could hold around 15,000 spectators, who came to watch gladiator fights and animal hunts. Today the terraces are grassed over, but the vaulted entrances, the arena walls and the elliptical plan are clearly legible. At the far end of the arena, the Sainte-Eustelle fountain recalls the legend of a young Santone woman converted by Saint Eutropius and martyred. A restoration project costing several million euros is under way to consolidate the masonry. In summer the site hosts guided tours, workshops for children aged 7 to 12 and shows. The €5 full-price ticket is valid for 7 days and also covers the three municipal museums, and it is free for under-18s.

Abbaye aux Dames

In 1047, Geoffroy Martel, Count of Anjou, and his wife Agnès of Burgundy founded a convent of Benedictine nuns in Saintes, on the right bank of the Charente, the first in the Saintonge. For centuries the abbey took in the daughters of the nobility, and the abbess wielded considerable authority over the town. The Romanesque church of Sainte-Marie can be recognised from afar by its bell tower covered in stone scales shaped like a pine cone, and by its façade, whose carved archivolts depict angels, the Elders of the Apocalypse and biblical scenes. After the Revolution, the buildings served as a prison and then barracks, before a long restoration. Since the 1970s the abbey has been a music centre: every July it hosts the Festival de Saintes, devoted to early and classical music, and it trains young musicians in the Jeune Orchestre de l'Abbaye. Visitors discover the place through the Musicaventure sound journey, a one-hour audio tour with headphones, or on a historical tour, and the abbey also offers rooms for sleeping within its walls.

Saint-Pierre Cathedral, Saintes

The seat of a bishopric until the Revolution, the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre has been rebuilt several times. Of the 12th-century Romanesque building, only part of the transept remains. In 1420, part of the vaulting collapsed, and the Gothic rebuilding that followed produced the monumental porch tower, with its massive buttresses and pinnacles, meant to carry a spire that was never built: it is now crowned by a small dome. In 1568, during the Wars of Religion, Protestants ransacked the cathedral; rebuilding began in 1585, with simpler vaults. The great organ, installed in 1627, has had technical problems since 2025. Listed as a historic monument in 1862 and raised to the rank of minor basilica in 1870, the cathedral is now in a seriously deteriorated state and needs work. It remains open for worship and for visits. From the square in front, the cobbled streets of old Saintes run down towards the Charente and Place du Synode, lined with white-stone mansions.

Basilica of Saint-Eutrope

Saint Eutropius, who according to tradition came to convert the Santones, is venerated as the first bishop of Saintes. Over his tomb, Duke William VIII of Aquitaine had a priory built from 1081 and entrusted it to the monks of Cluny; its church was consecrated in 1096 by Pope Urban II. A major stop on the Tours route to Santiago de Compostela, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. The lower church, a crypt 35 metres long and 5 metres high to the vault, is one of the largest in France; its stout pillars and capitals carved with foliage surround the saint's sarcophagus. The upper church, now 42 metres long, lost its nave, demolished in 1803 for structural reasons and replaced by a neo-Romanesque façade in 1831. In the 15th century, Louis XI paid for the Flamboyant Gothic bell tower, whose spire dominates the district. Raised to the rank of minor basilica in 1886, the church is five minutes from the amphitheatre.

Pilgrims' Hospital, Pons

Pons, a small town perched above the Seugne some twenty kilometres south of Saintes, was a stop on the Via Turonensis, the Way of St James coming from Tours. Around 1160, the lord Geoffroy III of Pons founded a hospital at the entrance to the town to shelter pilgrims, the poor and the sick. The building is one of the last of its kind still standing in Europe, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998 as part of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela. The road passed beneath a vaulted porch separating the hospital from the chapel: on its walls, pilgrims carved graffiti, including crosses, that are still visible. The patients' hall now houses an archaeological museum tracing human presence in the region, and the garden gathers around a hundred medicinal plants in the spirit of monastic gardens. Self-guided visits are free. In town, the 12th-century keep of Pons can be visited for €6, with a view over the whole of the Saintonge.