Ancienne église Notre-Dame-des-Vals

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

A monastery of nuns is said to have been consecrated in this place by Saint Rustique in the 5th century. Desiderata, second wife of Charlemagne, repudiated in 771, is said to have taken refuge at Las Vals. A few small columns grouped together in a grotto by a private individual are said to have been discovered on site and would testify to the disappeared monastery. The first certain document mentioning Notre-Dame des Vals is not earlier than 1404. It was then the parish church, that of Saint-Luc, built in the village, not becoming parish church until the end of the 16th century. The Romanesque building has a single nave, entirely vaulted with a slightly pointed barrel vault, with transverse arches. The apse, semi-circular, is covered with a half-dome. A series of blind arcatures rests on four pilaster strips. These arcatures are sixfold. The intermediate supports are corbels sometimes sculptured or simply moulded. A second roll, forming polychrome decoration, surrounds each of the arcatures, with alternation of an elongated element, in black lava, and a small cube of red brick. Decoration of Lombard type. Against the north face was built a sort of grotto containing four small columns which appear to come from the old cloister. Three of these columns are Gothic, with hook foliage. The fourth, Romanesque, placed above the others, has its capital decorated with two confronted birds.