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This Templar chapel was built in the 12th century and renovated in 1706. It was acquired in 1949 by Mr. and Mrs. Frédéric, the current owners, who completely restored it. Since 1986, on August 15 of each year, a mass has been celebrated there.

Charming little piece of nature. The chapel (above) can be visited when it is open. A skeleton welcomes you but don't worry, it is very discreet!

A pleasant visit with a passionate guide.

The city gate, called 'Porte de ville vieille', which gives access to the old town was built between the 13th and 15th centuries and allows you to reach the very typical houses of the town center of Jonzac. It was classified as a historical monument in 1926.

In 1073, the castle already exists; the first known lord was Guillaume de la Rochandry at the beginning of the 12th century. The 1449 inscription on the castle attests to its reconstruction following the destruction caused by the Hundred Years War. In 1505, Jean de Sainte-Maure, lord of Jonzac, founded the Carmelite monastery on the remains of an old chapel dedicated to Saint Nicolas. The cloister was built in 1657. The young Louis XIV, the Queen Mother and Mazarin stayed at the castle in 1659. The castle remained at Sainte-Maure until the end of the 17th century, then passed through marriage to Espardes de Lussan, which transformed the fortress in beautiful stately home with neat ornamentation and guard until the Revolution. Currently the north wing of the castle houses the buildings of the Town Hall (restored in the 19th century), and the south wing, those of the sub-prefecture. The cloister was restored between 1976 and 1978, and now houses a cultural center, with exhibition halls and an archaeological museum. The towers, postern and fountain in the basement date from the 12th century. Of the old feudal castle, only the postern and an isolated tower remain, connected to the main body by a large hall. The moat in front of the drawbridge was filled was filled in the 19th century. It was reopened at the beginning of the 21st century. The imposing gatehouse is marked 1549 and therefore dates from the 16th century, a period of work including the north-west tower, while the south-west tower, of a smaller diameter, is from the 17th century. The towers flanking the postern have retained their defenses. At each, the loopholes have been retained or enlarged. Stone stairs serve each floor and access the walkway. This passage seems to have been discovered, as evidenced by the gargoyles. The crenellation includes machicolations with archers in the middle of the merlons. The slate roofs are high pepperboxes on the towers, and a curious set with two sides connecting two pepperboxes for the gatehouse The fountain located in the basement of the sub-prefecture, has a niche and a niche frame decorated with sculptures imitating stalactites. Carved mask. The fountain was probably built by Léon de Sainte-Maure, Count of Jonzac, who enlarged and embellished the castle in the middle of the 12th century. In a former courtyard of the castle, a theater was built in the 19th century. It is a round building with approximately 300 seats.

The Seugne crosses a single department, in this case that of Charente-Maritime, watering thirty-six communes and seven cantons. The Seugne has its source in the canton of Montlieu-la-Garde, then crosses the cantons of Montendre, Jonzac, Saint-Genis-de-Saintonge, Pons, Gémozac and, finally, confluences in the canton of Saintes-Est. The Seugne has eighteen tributaries or referenced arms. The old forms of the name Seugne are flumen Soenna around 1100, Sonye in 1280, la Soyngna in 1322, la Soyngnhe in 1354, aqua Soynnie in 1363, Souaigne in 1494. The current pronunciations, Seugne and Souègne, are based on a medieval form Soïgne, which the scribes of the 13th and 14th centuries had difficulty transcribing. According to Duguet, a more recent spelling, Seuigne was misread and interpreted Sévigne in the 19th century.

Located on the edge of town, at the crossroads of 2 roads of ancient origin, the church is on an elevated position. The openings pierced in the upper part of the walls of the nave (reminiscent of the Languedoc "mirandes") are the most remarkable feature of the monument and seem to attest that the church was, if not fortified, at least fitted out as a refuge. The church has a cruciform plan which was not to be the case originally, because the arms of the transept, whose vaults are very low compared to that of the nave, are connected rather awkwardly to the latter by a incoherent molding system. It is not excluded that these transepts, very wide and each lit, to the north as to the south, by a large oculus obviously late, replaced a transept of more modest size. The fact that the cupola on squinches, decorated in the lower part with modillions in the shape of heads, and surmounted, on the outside, by a beautiful bell tower whose lower part is from the Romanesque period, was not placed according to the use at the crossing, but was moved above the right bay preceding the semi-circular apse, does not plead in favor of this hypothesis. It is more likely that the church originally only had a single nave. A partial collapse profoundly altered, at an early date, the external appearance of the apse by causing the disappearance of 3 of the 5 veneered arches which reinforced it on the outside. However, if we judge by the 2 arches still in place on the south side as well as by the beginning of the arch remaining on the north side, the whole of the apse included a very neat decoration of capitals and corbels ( with a very beautiful female head on the south side and an astonishing bearded head in the northeast corner). The relative abundance and quality of the carved decoration is one of the interesting aspects of the church of Guitinières. The western portal has 3 bare arches, between which are inserted decorative cords, and a 4th arch decorated with "honeycombs". If the capitals of the 3 bays of the nave are of good quality (one of them was recut at the end of the Middle Ages and shows 2 figures of angels), those of the bedside are remarkable: we see men surrounded of monstrous animals caught in vegetal intertwining and an image of Lust. Stylistically, these capitals are very similar to those of the nave of Saint-Eutrope de Saintes. and the intervention of a sculptor from this workshop, the third active on this particularly important site, seems very likely, with however, on the south side and in an inconspicuous location, the unexpected presence of a capital decorated with bare palmettes but very prominent, rather reminiscent of the capitals of the southwest. The furniture of the church of Guitinières is rather poor; at the base of one of the engaged columns of the nave, on the north side, an inscription preserves the memory of the repair of the paving in 1732. The neo-Romanesque altar fits quite well into the volume of the apse; but it is especially necessary to note the presence, in the north crosspiece of 2 Angels Worshipers in stone, which could date from the beginning of the 19th century. and which are most likely the remains of a rather ambitious altar decoration.

In 1972, a handful of volunteers began to collect various tools and, with the agreement of the municipality, to assemble them in the old rectory. Since 2001, the renovation of this museum has continued regularly: renovation and opening of new rooms, exterior fittings, repair of all facades, fitting out of sanitary facilities suitable for the disabled. This museum is located in a park perfectly equipped for the organization of all kinds of events: concerts, theater, flea markets, music festivals, fairs, meals, etc.