Ancienne abbaye Saint-Pierre de Lunas

English translation

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History

The former abbey would have been founded in the 7th century by the Benedictines, at the location of an ancient town called Tsiates. No remains from this period survive. Today there remains only the church, the chapter house and part of the cloister. The church comprises a bay of choir, square, vaulted with rib vault with trefoil profile, springing from corbels with roughly treated figural decoration. This part dates from the 12th century but the openings which light it were enlarged in the 15th century. The nave was rebuilt at the end of this latter period, at least in its upper parts, and comprises six bays covered with a broken barrel vault reinforced with double-cavetto arches, borne by moulded capitals. A truncated bell tower surmounts the choir of the church. Situated to the north-east of the church, the chapter house serves as a sacristy. Also constructed in the 12th century, access is gained from outside by a door crowned with a toroidal archivolt, framed by a sawtooth pattern and diamond points. The small columns which flanked it have disappeared with their capitals. Of the old Romanesque cloister, only two complete bays remain, each composed of four arcatures resting on two square piers and, in the middle, on two twin small columns. Round arches separate the bays and carry a ceiling of joists. The remainder of the cloister was reworked in the 15th or 16th century for some bays, and destroyed for the rest.