Église Saint-James

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

The construction, certainly from the 12th century, corresponds to the development, south of the fortifications, of a suburb reclaimed from a marshy area cleared and favoured by the passage of the Road to Compostela. The priory which was attached to it came under the authority of the abbey of Issoire. After its sale as national property in 1791, the building deteriorated: collapse of the vault of the nave and aisles; ruin of the first two bays. A new western façade was constructed to close the damaged nave. A roof structure provided the covering. Used as a barn and then a garage, the building has preserved the essential features of its layout: a nave and two aisles of equal length, terminated to the east by an apse and two small apses. The vault remaining over the last bay of the nave serving as a transept is vaulted in slightly pointed barrel vault. The choir is covered with a barrel vault. The capitals are decorated with crude sculptures with geometric, vegetable or animal motifs. The choir preserves remains of figurative decoration, probably from the 15th century, comprising a Christ Pantocrator inscribed within a mandorla and, below, the representation of a Jacobean scene: the beheading of Saint James in Jerusalem, in the company of the scribe Josias.