Deux-Jumeaux (Canton of Isigny-sur-Mer, Calvados) Church of Saint-Martin-de-Vertou

   A monastery was founded at Deux-Jumeaux in the 7^th century by saint Martin de Vertou. Its importance is confirmed by the presence in the Carolingian period of a scriptorium and a mint. The religious establishment did not survive the Norman invasions. Of this edifice remain fragments of the sculpted decor and obituary inscriptions of a priest dating from the 7^th or 8^th century. The site was re-occupied from the 11^th century by a church, which was completely re-built in c. 1090-1100. The architecture and sculpted decoration of this new edifice are marked by the influence of the neighbouring abbey of Cerisy-la-Forêt, of which Deux-Jumeaux was to become a priory.
The church which became a parish church after the Revolution, is now disused. It only retains the main nave of the choir, ending in an apse and the north wing of the transept, with the nave probably having been razed in the 18^th century with the two apsidioles of the north crossing. A chapel dating from the 13^th century, re-worked in the 14^th replaces the south wing of the transept and the central tower was reconstructed in the 15^th century. Its most remarkable features are the oculi of the transept, decorated with billettes, and the sculpted decoration of the blind arcades of the apse with representations of a lion, a sun and a palm tree, the relief of a fish under an arch inside the choir and the series of cornice brackets.

Bibliography

- Baylé, Maylis. " Les origines et les premiers développements de la sculpture romane en Normandie ", Art de Basse-Normandie, n° 100bis, p. 43-44, 138-141
- Musset, Lucien. - Normandie romane, Zodiaque, La Pierre-Qui-Vire, 1987, T. I, p. 32-33
- Les siècles romans en Basse-Normandie, Art de Basse-Normandie, n° 92, Printemps 1985, p.109