Saint-Martin-au-Val Sanctuary

The sanctuary is part of the monumental complex known today as Saint-Martin-au-Val, which lay outside the limits of the ancient city of Autricum, in modern-day Chartres. It is beneath what is now the Saint-Brice district. Autricum was a principle settlement in the territory of the Carnutes. The site was a swamp that fell within the floodplain of the river Eure at the time construction originally began. Workers raised and cleared the low-lying wetland with thousands of tons of backfill from nearby quarries. == Archaeology ==

Research has been conducted by the municipal archaeological service of the city of Chartres since 2006, with excavations focusing primarily on the north-east corner of the site so far. The site receives benefits such as annual grants to support its research, after interest led to it getting programmed by the Ministry of Culture in 2011. == Architecture ==

Main Sanctuary The massive sanctuary forms a quadriporticus 6 hectares (200 by 300 m) in size. The inner courtyard is 4.5 hectares, enclosed by walls and galleries with a pavilion at each of the four corners. The exterior facade is punctuated with alternating rectangular exedras and semi-circular apses, with the northern exedra providing direct access to the pavilion. A temple is built in the center of the western facade while the eastern facade featured a monumental fountain. The wood has been preserved by first being charred and hardened in a fire from building 2 being razed, after which it was extinguished and submerged when it fell into the white marble basin of a monumental fountain. Flooding from the Eure helped to seal the wood in sustainable conditions for its preservation. The wood, along with the fountain that preserved it, dates to the first half of the 2nd century. The large pieces recovered so far are the beams, joists, and planks of a hexagonal coffered ceiling. 90% of the structural elements are constructed from fir wood and 10% from oak, while the decorations are sculpted in linden. The decorations include sculpted acanthus leaves, ovals, spearheads, rais-de-cœurs, as well as pearls and pirouettes This is one of only two instances of such significant amounts of wooden architecture surviving from antiquity, offering a rare glimpse into joinery techniques and other wood craftsmanship from the period. Additional structures Outside the sanctuary walls, a series of structures extends the religious complex towards the river valley. One such religious structure, excavated in 2013, is an approximately square temple (fanum) that was built on an older gallery that had been refitted several times. Built on a high podium, only the base of its walls and parts of the floor remain. Its facade features eight columns and opens the central room (cella) towards the Eure. The floor of the building was paved with limestone and its walls decorated with colored rock. Either an altar or idol of the god worshiped there occupied the back of the cella. == History ==

Ground broke on construction of the sanctuary sometime around 70-80 CE. The rectangular and semi-circular rooms (exedra and apses) along the facade appeared half a century later. In the northeast portion that has been studied so far, construction seemingly ground to a premature halt by 130. The absence of wall lighting and painted plaster, the scarcity of roofing elements, as well as some major defects, suggest the sanctuary complex had possibly not even started to function. The fire was set to eliminate vegetation that had overgrown the site so that the masonry could be plundered for reuse. == References ==