The interior of the abbey was designed with pilgrims in mind, incorporating apsidal chapels to house relics, and a spacious ambulatory, an area of the church for people to move around the choir and inner sanctuary. Scholars have identified these as Jews being welcomed into heaven, as one of them lifts his tunic to reveal his circumcision.ДЄt the centre of the mГЄlГ©e sits Christ in Judgement with a benign expression on his face, arms stretched wide to welcome the visitor into the church and the faithful into heaven. Below the feet of the apostles, on either side of Christ, we see the dead rising from their tombs to receive judgement, including on His left, four figures who are among the Saved. The sculptors, who came from Toulouse in the 1130s, filled the surface of the tympanum (the semi-circular area above the doors) with people, angels and beasts both real and imaginary. Thus both visitors and townspeople beheld an entrance richly carved with intoxicating Christian imagery depicting Judgement Day.ДЄt the entrance of Saint-Pierre abbey Pic: steve estvanik / Shutterstock While the monks accessed the abbey through the north transept, the medieval pilgrim entered the church through the south porch, which opened onto the main market square. Read more: Fire and murderous fury in medieval French city Laon The relics of saints Felicity, Prime and FГ©licien that he acquired for the abbey proved to be a potent draw for pilgrims.ДЄnd although nothing remains of the ninth-century church, the numerous pilgrims who came to venerate the saintly relics there left offerings so bountiful that the monks were able to start work on a new, larger abbey, built on the same site, before the middle of the twelfth century.

And so they did.ДЄrchbishop Raoul founded the abbey of Saint-Pierre in 898 and installed 12 monks from nearby Solignac. Raoul was a canny operator focussed on attracting pilgrims (and their wallets) to his new foundation.

The abbeyвЂ™s location on the banks of the Dordogne river was in a strategically useful position. So enchanted was he that he ditched its old name, re-baptised it Bellus Locus (thatвЂ™s вЂBeautiful PlaceвЂ™ to you and me), and founded a Benedictine abbey there.Д«ut archbishop Raoul (or Rodolphe, depending on the source) didnвЂ™t set up shop simply because he liked the view. A ninth-century archbishop of Bourges happened upon the little village of Vellinus while surveying his seigneurial lands. Names can tell you a lot about a place, and Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne is no exception.

Beulieu sur dordogne