The Church of Saint-Pierre d'Aulnay (French: Église Saint-Pierre d'Aulnay) is an important medieval church on the way to

Saint-Jacques de Compostelle Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral ...

, in Aulnay, Charente-Maritime. The Church is thought to have been built in 1120–1140. Numerous oriental influences can be seen in its designs. For example, the first arc of the gate is inspired from Oriental designs. Designs of elephants also find their origin in Oriental designs."Les représentations d'éléphants sur un chapiteau de l'église d'Aulnay puisent ainsi leurs modèles dans le décor des coffrets d'ivoire des tissus et des soiries d'Orient" in ''Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, Guide du Musée'' p.48, Numerous mouldings of the Church are visible at the

Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine The Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine (, ''Architecture and Heritage City'') is a museum of architecture and monumental sculpture located in the Palais de Chaillot ( Trocadéro), in Paris, France. Its permanent collection is also known a ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. File:Portail Eglise Saint-Pierre Aulnay-de-Saintonge mid 12th century.jpg, Portal of Eglise Saint-Pierre, Aulnay-de-Saintonge, mid 12th century. File:Islamic stylistic detail Eglise Saint-Pierre Aulnay-de-Saintonge mid 12th century.jpg, Oriental stylistic influence on the first arc of the gate of the church, Aulnay-de-Saintonge, mid 12th century. File:Capital with elephants Eglise Saint-Pierre Aulnay-de-Saintonge mid 12th century.jpg, Capital with elephants, Eglise Saint-Pierre, Aulnay-de-Saintonge, mid 12th century.

Notes

External links

Description of a portal of church of Saint-Pierre in 3D .
Roman Catholic churches in France {{France-church-stub