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Basilica of St. Eutropius is a leading Catholic Saintes sanctuaries in the department of Charente -Maritime and the Diocese of La Rochelle and Saintes. On 11 May 1886 an apostolic brief of Pope Leo XIII erected the church basilica mineure.

Founded in 1081, at the instigation of the Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou Guillaume VIII , consecrated by Pope Urban II in 1096, it honors St. Eutropius, martyr , the first bishop and evangelist in the region. His tomb , placed in the crypt is visited since then by many pilgrims to Saint Jacques de Compostela . The abbey of Cluny, who entrusted the church from the beginning, supporting the establishment of a priory of up to twenty monks responsible for the celebration of worship and organization of the pilgrimage.

The church considered obsolete by the prefect Ferdinand Guillemardet is shorn of its nave Until 1803 , St. Eutropius was one of the largest religious buildings in the region . Nave covered all the current court. She was also one of the most original , because of its division into high church and low church, with system stairs joining the center of the vessel that allowed easy movement of pilgrims.

Masterpiece of Romanesque Saintonge , St. Eutropius also incorporates elements of other styles, such as the arrow ( fifteenth century ) , a pure product of the Gothic , built thanks to a donation of King Louis XI . Designed by architect Jean Lebas (also master engineer of the Basilica of Saint -Michel Bordeaux ), it rises to around 80 meters. The choir, Gothic also dates from the sixteenth century, and the present facade , pastiche novel of great sobriety , dates from the nineteenth century.

She is also a World Heritage Site by Unesco under the road to St Jacques de Compostela in France