Église de la Sainte Vierge

English translation

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History

In 1119, the church belonged to the abbey of Alet. Transformed at various periods, it was originally composed of three naves, an apse and two absidioles. On the short transept arms, two absidioles were attached to the east in the extension of each aisle. In the 19th century, to increase the capacity of the church which had most certainly been ruined during the Wars of Religion, the central nave and the south aisle were demolished in favour of a single nave. In the same programme, the apse and south absidiole were removed to make way for the present polygonal apse while the north aisle was completely isolated from the nave by a solid wall. From the primitive church there remains the Romanesque portal of the 12th century. Two square buttresses frame the portal and are connected above it by a cornice supported by six architectural ornaments: two heraldic shields and four grinning human heads or animals. The portal proper consists of three round arches. The two outer arches are decorated with sculpted buttons, symmetrical ornaments for each of them but smaller for the outermost. These two arches rest on columns of unequal thickness. They are crowned with carved and sculpted capitals.