Église Notre-Dame

English translation

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History

Building presenting a plan with two naves, rebuilt by Duke Louis II of Bourbon at the site of a Romanesque church around 1400. The work continued in the 15th century to make it a Gothic church. The north apsidiole, some parts of the north transept arm, two walls of the choir and the north piles of the nave date from the 12th century. The chevet, the crossing of the transept, the greater part of the south aisle go back to the 16th century. The north side chapels are from the 15th century. The door of the western façade is from the 17th century, with pilasters and pediment with niche. The square bell tower is pierced on each face with a trilobed opening framed by mouldings. Priory-cure dependent on the Benedictine abbey of Menat (Puy-de-Dôme) and on the archpresbytery of Narzenne, the church of Notre-Dame de Montluçon was the seat of the parish of the upper town of Montluçon, created in the 12th century, which extended over the surrounding countryside. It is said to have taken the place of a church dedicated to Saint Ménélée, founder of the Auvergne abbey in the 8th century. Building of Romanesque origin (late 11th-12th century), whose reconstruction was begun around 1400 at the initiative of Duke Louis II of Bourbon and was completed around 1510 (a bell was cast in 1511). The north apsidiole (chapel of Saint-Éloi) and the north transept arm, two walls of the choir and the north piles of the nave date from the 12th century. The Gothic building, with irregular and thwarted plan, consists of two vessels, the north aisle not having been rebuilt, but pierced with four narrow chapels with moulded Gothic openings at the late 15th century. Three campaigns of work can be distinguished. The bases of the piles of the transept crossing and the apse of the Virgin's chapel were raised in the late 14th and early 15th century. Work continued slowly towards the west. A second campaign of work was conducted from around 1450: the arms of the dukes of Bourbon and of the prior Gilles Duboix, on the extrados of the arcs of the transept crossing, and on the keystones of the vault of the choir and sacristy, bear witness to this. The apse with flat chevet and its flamboyant tracery were raised in this period. The bell tower, of square plan, pierced on each side by a trilobed opening framed by toric mouldings, was raised over the choir crossing, less high than initially planned. It was covered with slate, whilst the covering of the nave was in channel tiles (work contract of 1647). A third campaign, towards the late 15th century, saw the erection of the central bays of the nave and the north chapels, but it was only in the first decade of the 16th century that the western bay was completed, with a cut-off angle to the south. A balustrade animated with quadrilobes, once punctuated by pinnacles with crockets and lined with gargoyles, ran at the top of the guttering walls. The portals of the west façades and of the south cut-off angle were rebuilt in 1622, with pilasters and pediments with niche. The Rosary chapel, on the north aisle, was refounded and enlarged around 1611. The Sacred Heart chapel (former chapter room of the Priory Notre-Dame in the Middle Ages, which became Sainte-Madeleine vicary in the 16th century), to the north of the transept, was joined to the church when it was rebuilt in 1660. [J.-H.-M. Clément, Montluçon et ses richesses d'art, Montluçon, 1932, p. 338-369. − P. Pradel, « Montluçon. Église Notre-Dame », in Archaeological Congress of France, 101st session, Allier, 1938, Paris, 1939, p. 25-32 (corrected construction chronology). – A. Courtillé, Auvergne, Bourbonnais, Velay gothiques. Les édifices religieux, Paris, 2002, p. 307-311. – S. Liegard (dir.), Le prieuré Notre-Dame de Montluçon. Archéologie d'un site millénaire, Review of Auvergne, nos 622-623, 2018]