Saint Martin des Champs Church

Saint Martin des Champs stands in the heart of the fields, about 500 meters from the village of Oltingue. This church, classified as a historic monument, holds major historical and archaeological significance. It was the mother church of Oltingue and three now vanished villages. From the 7th century, a cemetery chapel was erected here on the site of an ancient Gallo-Roman rural establishment. Excavations carried out in 1989 revealed four phases of development between the 12th and 13th centuries, while the current church dates from the late 13th century, with neo-Gothic modifications added in 1868. Research uncovered burials visible in the nave, including a monolithic sarcophagus from the 7th or 8th century, a masonry tomb containing a skeleton with feet elevated above five other individuals, as well as funerary deposits such as a Carolingian shard, a belt buckle, and a denier coin of Charles the Bald. A stone chest contained the remains of thirty individuals. In 2018, exceptional frescoes, including the largest, were discovered on the exterior facades and are currently being studied. Prehistoric flint tools, Roman pottery, tiles, and worked stones were also found on the site. On the Oltingue hill, remains of walls and domestic pits attest to the existence of a now-lost Gallo-Roman fortification.