Église Saint-Pierre de Belloch

English translation

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History

Isolated rural chapel which is said to have been given in 1178 by Pierre de Domanova to the abbot of Saint-Martin du Canigou. According to its architectural characteristics, the building was constructed in the 12th century or in the last years of the 11th. It has a single nave and hemicircular sanctuary, without lateral chapel. The western gable wall was heightened by an arched bell tower probably of recent date. The old door opens to the south. The two round-arch rolls are composed of voussoirs alternately light and dark, of grey and red sandstone, forming a polychrome decoration whose contrasts are further enhanced by an archivolt band whose flat voussoirs alternate their tints with those of the outer roll. The door leaves received ironwork decoration composed of three horizontal crosspieces each ending in opposed volutes, rolled in spiral. Between these crosspieces, decreasing in length from bottom to top, are applied rows of S-shaped volutes, all surmounted by three horseshoes. Other horseshoes outline a guilloche pattern at the base. The hemicircular apse rests on a projecting concentric base. In the northern part of the apse, a large opening was made in which a concrete colonette was inserted bearing a Romanesque capital sculpted with palmettes.