Église Saint-Michel

English translation

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History

According to an inscription, the sculpted lintel of the portal would date from 1019-1020, making it the oldest dated monument of Romanesque art in France. The abbey, founded around 819, was destroyed probably by the Normans, then rebuilt in 981. Some parts of the chevet of the church preserve masonry which may date back to the 10th century (construction technique characterized by corner chains in very large ashlar blocks set horizontally in alternating headers and stretchers, the rest of the walls being built in coursed pebbles and roughly depicting herringbone pattern). The chevet belonged to the church of 981. The identified parts include significant elements of the transept, notably its plan, most of the piédroits of the arches which open on its eastern face and towards the nave, as well as the south façade, the entire north absidiole, the straight bay of the central apse and the springing of the south absidiole. It is possible that the eastern part of the nave was built in the early 11th century, the lintel having been sculpted to adorn the portal, which disappeared in the 12th century. Works, comprising probably the lengthening of the nave and, at the time of vaulting the whole, the raising of the eaves, must have been executed during the 12th century. Towards the end of this century or at the beginning of the 13th, the lintel would have been transferred to its present location. The apse was decorated, around the 12th or 13th century, with frescoed paintings of which two fragments remain.