It has already been suggested that all circular churches were originally sepulchral, or intended to be so. There can also be little doubt but that the halves of round churches, which, as explained above, were adopted as the chevet termination of French basilicas, were also intended either to symbolise a tomb-house or relic shrine, or actually to serve as the sepulchres of distinguished personages. This certainly appears to have been the case in the earlier French examples, and among these one of the most splendid in this province, indeed, almost the only one of any real importance, is that of Fontevrault, where repose, or rather reposed, the remains of two of our Plantagenet kings, Henry II. and Richard I., with others of their family. As will be seen from the woodcut (No. 587), it is a mausoleum worthy of them, and a pleasing example of the style of the age, and though certainly not so peculiarly Angiovine as the apsidal churches of Angers and Poitiers, has still distinguishing characteristics which are not found in any other province of France. The nave is surmounted by four domes, as is usual in this and the more southern provinces, and it is only in having an aisle trending round the apse that it differs from the ordinary churches. It may be seen from the plan (Woodcut No. 586) how awkwardly this is done, and how ill its narrow dimensions agree with the spaciousness of the nave. [Illustration: 588. Elevation of one of the Bays of the Nave at Fontevrault. (From Verneilh.)] Woodcut No. 588 demonstrates how similar the domes of its nave are to those of Angoulême, Souillac, and those of the South—this domical arrangement being, in fact, as characteristic of this age and locality as the intersecting vault afterwards became of the Northern provinces. [Illustration: 589. Façade of Church of Notre Dame at Poitiers. (From Chapuy, ‘Moyen-Âge Monumental.’)] If the apse or chevet of this church is not so strictly Angiovine as other examples, the façade of the church of Notre Dame de Poitiers (shown in Woodcut No. 589) is not open to the same remark, being strictly local in all its parts. Originally the one window it possessed was circular; but in the 15th century, as may be seen from the mouldings then introduced, it was cut down to its present form, no doubt to make more room for painted glass, which at that age had superseded all other modes of decoration: whereas in the 12th century, to which the church belongs, external sculpture and internal mural paintings were the prevailing modes of architectural expression. It will be observed from the preceding woodcut that sculpture is used in a profusion of which no example belonging to a later age exists; and though we cannot help admiring the larger proportions and broader masses of subsequent builders, still there is a richness and a graphic power in the exuberant sculpture of the earlier façades which we miss in after ages, and of which no mere masonic excellence can ever supply the place.