“Merovingian and Early Carolingian Art”: The Hypogeum of the Dunes

The Hypogeum of the Dunes outside of Poitiers especially captivated my students’ interest this spring, for the potency of its images and inscriptions.  Often neglected by English-language surveys (except of course, the English translation of the Arts of Mankind survey of Early Medieval Art, Europe of the Invasions), one must look farther afield for good material on this monument.  The Museums of Poitiers offer a useful website, and a website maintained by an archaeology student in France presents plans, photos, and inscriptions.

When presenting this monument, I followed the sequence determined by the monument.  We began with the steps leading down into the crypt.  You may find the plan from the Taschen Early Medieval Art Survey by Xavier Barral i Altet on Flickr.  The actual steps may have originally functioned as risers.  Ernst Kitzinger’s article on “Interlace and Icons”fits well as a follow-up reading, for it discusses these steps in terms of their apotropaic potential, which almost every aspect of the crypt reinforces.

We then examined the door frame and its extended inscription (scroll down).   

The inscription reads, in English:

In the name of God, I,

here, Mellebaude,

debtor/sinner and servant of Jesus Christ,

have created for myself thIS

little cave here where

my sepulcher

lies, unworthy,

which I did in the name

of the Lord Jesus Christ whom

I loved, in whom

I believed.  It is a

true dignity to confess that God

lived, whose

glory is GREAT,

 where peace, faith, and charity IS.

HE is God and man,

and God is in him. 

[added, in same hand]

If someone does not worship here the Lord JESUS

CHRIST and destroys this WORK,

may he be anathema – Maranatha –

Until Eternity.

Although only one of several intriguing inscriptions in the crypt, to go into each one would go well beyond the modest aims of this website.  I should mention, however, that one inscription, in particular, permits insight into the circumstances of the crypt’s dedication, destruction, and restoration.

In the second chamber, two plaques depict archangels and Evangelists.  They compare well with the Coffin of Saint Cuthbert.  The crypt also preserves an intriguing fragmentary relief of the two thieves from the Crucifixion. 

Although this monument requires a bit of effort, it rewards well that effort.