Lichères
| Lichères | ||
|---|---|---|
|
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| region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | |
| Department | Charente | |
| Arrondissement | Confolens | |
| Canton | Boixe-et-Manslois | |
| Community association | Coeur de Charente | |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 54 ' N , 0 ° 13' E | |
| height | 60-117 m | |
| surface | 4.94 km 2 | |
| Residents | 87 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 18 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 16460 | |
| INSEE code | 16184 | |
 Lichères - Romanesque church of St-Denis |
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Lichères is a western French municipality with 87 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the Charente in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine .
location
Lichères is located within a bend in the Charente river, about 32 kilometers (driving distance) north of Angoulême . The capital of the canton, Mansle , is only about 6 kilometers to the south-west. The former Romanesque abbey church of Cellefrouin is about 15 kilometers to the east.
Population development
| year | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2006 | 2016 |
| Residents | 84 | 70 | 87 | 86 | 94 | 88 | 89 |
history
History of the small community no information is published. However, it can be assumed that the development of the place was shaped to a large extent by the former priory church of Saint-Denis.
Attractions
The approximately 500 meters away from the village standing parish church Saint-Denis has been built in the middle of the 12th century - probably as a priory of about 40 kilometers away Benedictine - Abbey Charroux . It has been classified as a Monument historique since 1903 and impresses both with its isolated location and the balanced architecture of its parts: choir area with large central apse ; Transept with small east apses and a squat crossing tower ; Nave and plain west facade. The large central apse is structured by arcade arches (some with window openings); the lateral apses, on the other hand, are unadorned and not structured and each have only a small east window cut into the masonry.
The west facade has four buttresses for stabilization, but otherwise no decorative or dividing elements. The portal, on the other hand, has an unusually rich decor: capitals , archivolts and the arched lintel are decorated with vegetal motifs. The tympanum shows the Lamb of God ( Agnus Dei ) in the middle in a round mandorla , which is held by angels at the side; left and right the angel watches - an extremely rare motif - a monk (or abbot?)
The interior of the church has three aisles: the central nave, side aisles and crossing area are - after the collapse of the original crossing tower in the 18th century - vaulted with wood or with wooden roof trusses; the two transept arms are barrel vaulted . Between the lateral apses - with small pillars at the top - and the central apse, there is an area on both sides that is also used as a sanctuary and is illuminated by round windows ( oculi ), so that the church has a total of five altars - a clear indication of a former priory church. As can be seen from the exposed base of a column, the floor level of the nave was formerly about half a meter lower, which means that the apses and thus also the altars were correspondingly higher.
St-Denis church, view from a distance
View from the west
West portal
Nave
Individual evidence
- ↑ Église Saint-Denis, Lichères in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
literature
- Thorsten Droste : Poitou. Western France between Poitiers and Angoulême - the Atlantic coast from the Loire to the Gironde. DuMont, Cologne 1999, p. 249f, ISBN 3-7701-4456-2 .
