Saint Martin

1st and 3rd Sunday of each month : 9.30 am

To discover the church of St. Martin of Samer, protected by the Historical Monuments, follow to the Main Square the recently restored octagonal belfry. There is a surprise: St. Martin of Samer, and ancient 12th century abbey-church (abbatial) is hidden behind the houses built against its facade. It is the only church in France that has kept this picturesque medieval architectural particularity. Within, the volumes of the church, today the parish church, and in the gothic style are to be admired.

Its history is agitated: destruction in the 16th century, abandon during the Revolution when, like many others, it becomes a stone quarry, and a warehouse. In spite of this agitated history, the church has kept some very beautiful evidence of its first years.

Entering the church, the visitor is welcomed by the sumptuous Romanesque carved baptism fonts (11th century) before discovering the primitive church already mentioned in a papal bull in 1173, preserved in the church, in the Lady Chapel. Comprising a sanctuary, transept , and two chapels the primitive church was already dedicated to St. Martin whom we find in a key-stone of the vault of this chapel, and on the key-stone of the second vault in the sanctuary of the actual church.