Église Saint-Saturnin

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

In 1099, a bull of Pope Urban II mentions the church among the benefices subject to the Benedictine monastery of Psalmody. The parish depended on the diocese of Narbonne. Direct study of the building allows the entire main structure to be attributed to the 14th century, this campaign comprising the polygonal chevet, including the former north sacristy, the nave, the south portal and, on the exterior, the buildings of the priory adjoining the rear wall (current baptistry). The thickness of the north and west walls seemed to indicate that, following the usual principle of economy, the 14th-century construction had used the north and west bases of the primitive Romanesque building. The interior stripping of the building not having confirmed this hypothesis, it is possible that this thickness is due to the exposure of the building from the defensive viewpoint or according to the nature and slope of the terrain. The chevet has retained its primitive Gothic vault. A formerel arch, situated at the far end, is the sole witness to the vault of the nave, destroyed at an unknown date and replaced by a ceiling of which the putlog holes of the carpentry remain. Groin vaults in brick were established in 1852. The bell tower, an important square tower surmounted by a pyramidal stone spire, was built in the 17th century. There must have existed at its location a lateral chapel, perhaps surmounted by a primitive bell tower, for the arcade on the nave is linked to the courses of the two buttresses. Directly opposite, the first south chapel was fitted out in 1643. It appears that the lateral chapels vaulted with brick, the south sacristy, the vault of the porch and the piercing of the rear wall date from 1850. The former priory was originally situated at a level approximately two metres lower than that of the nave. The building develops to the west, in the axis of the church. The walls rest on pilasters which, to the north and south, serve as support for three large pointed arches. At the height of the threshold of the doors runs all along the façade traces of end-pieces and chevrons which must have supported the floor of an exterior gallery. This gallery could belong to the upper storey of a cloister which would have occupied the location of the presbytery courtyard. The interior mural paintings appear to date from the 14th century.