Église Saint-Pierre

English translation

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History

The town came under royal domain. In 843, Charles the Bald gave its lordship to Sunifred who transmitted it to the abbey of Lagrasse which retained it until the Revolution. A church stood in Prades in the 9th century. In the 15th century, it was a priory. This former church, to which a bell tower was added in the 12th century, must have been of modest dimensions. In the 16th century, a request was made by the consuls and the syndic of Prades to request its enlargement. The foundation stone of the new building was laid in 1606 and construction began on the north side. The western façade was built last (door dated 1668). The general form of the church was modified in the 18th century by the addition of two chapels which extend the transepts (1735 and 1749). In 1913, the American sculptor Gren-Barnard, owner of arcades from Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, donated them to the State on condition that they remain in Prades. They were placed against the western façade of the church. The bell tower comprises two distinct parts: the four lower floors are Romanesque, built of dressed stone; the fifth floor and the spire in truncated pyramid with eight sides date from the end of the 17th or beginning of the 18th century. Like most Romanesque bell towers in this region, the lower part is on a square plan, with floors marked by Lombard bands surmounted by a row of saw-tooth pattern. These floors are pierced by twin windows. The building presents a nave of five bays, a transept which is not marked in elevation and a rectangular chevet slightly narrower than the nave. Rectangular chapels occupy the spaces between the buttresses. To the south of the chevet is found a square chapel terminated by a semicircular apse, which has a counterpart to the north. The interior elevation is divided into two stories. The lower one, built of dressed stone, comprises the arcades opening onto the lateral chapels and ends in a moulded band forming a cornice. Above this band, the walls are built slightly set back, which allowed for the creation of a sort of gallery bordered by an iron balustrade and which turns around the nave and the chevet. The upper story is that of the vaults. Despite the late date of construction of the church, these are of Gothic structure and profile.