Église

English translation

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History

Etienne Morel bishop of Maurienne, abbot of Ambronay, canon of Saint-Jean de Lyon, native of Coligny, was the benefactor of this town whose church he had rebuilt. His various functions and titles doubtless explain in part the relationship that has been established between the chevets (contemporary with the cathedral of Saint-Jean de Maurienne of the abbey of Ambronay and of the church of Coligny). The nave was rebuilt from 1869 to 1886 at the initiative of the curé Magaud with the concern, it seems, of harmonizing the new parts with the old part. Thus the openings of the nave and those of the aisles reproduce the tracery of the windows of the apse. Sources: "Visage de l'Ain", no. 67

Description

This edifice is built in ashlar stone arranged with regular courses for the 15th-century part, the buttresses and the façade, with uncertain joints masonry for the remainder of the 19th-century construction. The chevet is three-sided, two chapels form a low, projecting transept. The roof is in flat tiles. The west façade is decorated with a porch with at the tympanum a representation of Saint Martin cutting his cloak. Above the porch a rose window, the bell tower with a spire crowns the whole. The windows of the chevet and transept and of the chevet whose tracery has two or three forms with network in the upper part, were imitated for the lighting of the aisles of the nave. The latter is lit by a series of small rose windows. In the interior the edifice presents a "classic" Gothic architecture. The eight bays of the nave are covered by rib vaults resting on monolithic pillars composed with capitals with vegetable motifs. The chevet presents a rib vault with six sections. The chapels of the transept are covered with a groin vault. The Gothic and Neo-Gothic furnishings contained in the church of Coligny appear of great quality: 28 stalls subsist from the 15th century: the seats, the misericords and the ends of high stalls are decorated with sculpted heads and flamboyant motifs. In the 19th century, sculpted panels were added representing the life of Christ, surmounted by a sculpted and openwork canopy. The high altar is richly decorated with a representation of the Last Supper and scenes of the life of Christ on the predella. The altar of the Virgin received a retable with the Virgin and Child in the centre. Finally, the stained glass windows are from the second half of the 19th century.