Église Saint-Marcel

English translation

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History

Church of the 12th century presenting a plan with single nave cut by a transept reworked on the south side, but of which the north arm has retained its primitive arrangement, with small apse vaulted in cul-de-four. The nave, originally vaulted with a barrel vault, is covered by a wooden ceiling. The crossing of the transept borne by square pillars flanked by half-cylindrical columns, is covered by a spherical dome on pendentives surmounted by a calotte on elliptical plan. The particularity of this calotte is constituted by the eight pointed arch arcatures which form interpenetration as if the builder had intended to provide openings there to light the vault. The crossing of the transept is surmounted by a square tower forming bell tower. The western porch is constituted by a barrel-vaulted passage. It is surmounted by a square tower with two storeys where there are rooms which formerly served as lodging for the monks of Aubazine. The porch is decorated, on each of its interior faces, with a double round arch arcatures with small columns and sculpted capitals and a decoration of bas-reliefs, representing, on the north side, the death of the wicked rich man, and on the south side, a miser struggling with a demon and a man bending under the weight of an enormous fish. The portal, framed by fine small columns, opens under a triple pointed arch archivolte.