A SUBTERRANEAN CHURCH

Evening Star, Issue 22448, 19 September 1936, Page 7

A SUBTERRANEAN CHURCH

St. Kmilion is a name which conjures up a Bordeaux wine, but it is also tie name of a town 25 miles from Bordeaux that possesses a number of curious, but little-known, buildings, one of which, it is claimed, is the largest subterranean church in the world. It undoubtedly holds a world’s record for curiosity, for it carries a graveyard on its roof. The tower that rises from the old burial place is really the steeple of the church hidden below. The facade consists of two walls built one on top of the other. From the street it looks much like any other of the ancient early churches, ‘ but when the portal is passed the visitor finds himself in a church dug out of the rock. It was fashioned in the eighth century by the disciples of St. Emilion. Montaigne visited it, and the lines he left recounting his visit show that he was struck with awe, as are visitors to-day wno come out of the bright sunshine info this vast church cut in the rock. It measures 124 ft by 65ft, and is 52ft high. The interior is divided into three naves. Strange carvings on its pillars have long pnzzied the experts, especially a curious blending of heads of men and animals. From the top of the tower, ’which is 200 ft above the town* more than half the department of the Gironde can be seen.