LA SAUVE MAJEURE is a rural town of 1213 inhabitants, according to the 1999 national census (against 1100 inhabitants in 1990). It covers one of the most important town area in the district of Créon, that is 1864 hectares.
Its name, taken from the Latin “Silva Major”, means the “Great Forest”.

Situated in the district of Créon, in the south east of the “department” of Gironde, it is in the middle of the “Entre-Deux-Mers” area – i.e. equidistant from the Garonne and Dordogne rivers – at about 27 kilometres from Bordeaux and 20 kilometres from Libourne.

La Sauve Majeure presents a hilly relief, reaching 108 metres high at the place known as “Le Castagnat”. The lowest part of the town is the place known as the “Marcon”.

The whole town area benefits from the “Entre-Deux-Mers” and “Bordeaux” AOC (highest French wine classification) appellations, which concern 321 hectares of vineyards and 39 wine-producers who make sure the main activity of the town lives on. It is to be noted that the Wine Union of the Entre-Deux-Mers is based in La Sauve Majeure, just next to the abbey.
The other agricultural productions are relatively marginal, except for cereals and maize in particular.

La Sauve Majeure’s industrial history has always been linked to agriculture, yet it can boast a diversified and substantial craft industry, which counts a score of small traditional companies, but does not include food retailing as it is registered as a commercial activity.

La Sauve Majeure has developed along the secondary road number 671, which forms a North-West/West axis and enables the good servicing of the town. It also acts as a framework for housing in the town centre, which keeps developing linearly along the road.
The main part of the town was built along this major axis, yet La Sauve Majeure also counts several hamlets.
The traditional scattered housing, made of isolated large estates, has developed around the town centre.

Owing to its hilly relief and to the presence of woods, which contribute to partitioning the landscape, the town area is composed of a series of picturesque sites; of course, the surroundings of the abbey offer the most admirable scenery.

La Sauve Majeure’s Heritage:

-The Benedictine Abbey was founded by Gérard de Corbie in 1079 and became at an early stage one of the greatest abbeys in the South-West of France. Its majestic ruins still testify to the size of the original buildings and to its builders’ ambition. Thanks to its spiritual influence, the abbey was soon regarded as a major stop for pilgrims on the road to St James of Compostella.
In the 12th century, there were some 300 monks living in the abbey.
After the French Revolution, the abbey retained its intellectual vocation: it housed a Jesuit college in the 19th century and then the first teacher training college in Gironde.
Today, it is one of the great landmarks of Romanesque art in the Aquitaine region.

-St Peter’s Church is admirably situated at the centre of a triangular graveyard bordered by 3 monumental crosses dating from the 15th and 16th centuries, and is one of the most beautiful churches in Gironde. Founded in 1083 by St Gérard, the present Church was rebuilt at the end of the 12th century.
This building shows the transition from the Romanesque to the Gothic.
The decorative art used in its completion is very interesting. The chevet is decorated with four life-size statues set in niches: St Peter, the Virgin and Child, St James and St Michael. Above the entrance door is set a magnificent statue of St Peter, dating from the 13th century.
The interior of the Church is covered with paintings. The scenes painted in the choir of the nave (12th century) and on the pillars (14th century) were restored in 1865 and display an interesting form of popular art.
A large sculpted capital, representing Daniel in the Lions’ Den, is used as a stoup in the entrance hall.
In 1998, the Abbey and St Peter’s Church, which already were listed historic buildings, became UNESCO World Heritage sites for being famous stops on the road to St James of Compostella.

-The Prison is the smallest in France and only counts two cells, yet it is a sophisticated building. With its modillions under the cornices surmounted by rectangular structures, it brings Second Empire style to mind.
The façade is perfectly symmetrical thanks to a bonding of partition walls.
The opening of the semicircular door is topped by a cartouche cut in the stone bearing the inscription “Prison Communale” (town prison). On each side of the door, there are two narrow slits.
The plans for the building of the prison were drawn on September 14th, 1859 in Créon.