Église Saint-Nicolas

English translation

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History

This building is one of the rare examples of architecture of the 16th and 17th centuries in Haute-Loire, although presenting only an interior rearrangement of an older building. The cartulary of the Monastier, to which the priory of Freycenet de la Tour was dependent, makes mention of it as early as the late 9th century. The church would have been founded around 1100 by Guillaume IV, abbot of Saint-Chaffre. The texts stress the smallness of the primitive building. From 1520 to 1558, Charles I of Sénecterre rebuilt the part of the nave which encompassed the chapels of Saint-Régis and Saint-Nicolas. In 1577, the bishop of the Puy, Antoine de Sénecterre, would have had the south side chapel built with pediment and entablature, as well as the façade, remade at this period. In 1636, the André de l'Arc family requests authorisation to build a chapel. In 1669, the building is enlarged and two chapels are added. In 1865, construction of the present bell tower in place of a bell tower with arcades; opening of the south window of the gallery; digging of a lateral ditch on the north for the drainage of the building, which was very damp. The most characteristic elements are the porch and the Sénecterre chapel.