Église paroissiale Saint-Léger

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

In the second half of the Middle Ages, the territory of the commune of Saint-Lager belonged to the Beaujeu. The castellans, then vassal lords, were the family of Laye, from 1285 onwards. The de Laye family remained on the territory until the end of the 16th century. By inheritance from Philibert de Laye in 1589 it passed to the Chardonnay de Salornay who also recovered the title. A century later, Antoine de Chardonnay saw himself dispossessed, the seigneurie was awarded to Gaspard Jourdan in 1695. The latter was procurator general and counsellor at the court of monies of Lyon. The Revolution does not seem to have affected the descendants of Gaspard, the family of Brosses-de Cuzieu, whose name changed through marriage and who would settle permanently at Saint-Lager. The last descendant Aimé-Eugénie de Cuzieu died without heir in 1889. The first name of the church was Saint-Clair, dependent on the archpriest of Belleville which particularly honoured this cult as well as the lords of Saint-Lager. The church was entirely decorated by the workshop of Giovanni Zacchéo in 1856.

Description

The external architecture of the church does hardly distinguish itself in the corpus of protected churches or otherwise, only the hexagonal bell tower with its dome roof offers to see a certain originality and adds to an ordinary composition. Indeed, the plan is almost rectangular, the transept being only slightly projecting on either side of the aisles where two small paved entrance vestibules come to occupy the angles on the west side. It ends externally with the base of the bell tower of square plan and planted behind the old choir, the masonry of this bell tower is entirely covered in cement render. The main western entrance of the church is framed in gilded dressed stone, it is surmounted by a arched pediment without decoration and a rose. The four arched openings on either side of the aisles are also in gilded stone whose surround is visible, which somewhat enlivens the massive and austere aspect of the building. Inside, the church is opened in the manner of a basilica where only the two square pillars of the transept delimit the beginning of probable former lateral naves. The semi-circular choir with its palm-vault was to be equipped with tracery openings today obscured by the presence of the contemporary bell tower. Ceilings and walls are covered in decorations in the manner of tapestries in the upper part. On the vault of the choir is painted a tracery in trompe l'oeil allowing to see the blue sky and the former openings are occupied by representations of sainted figures in the manner of stained glass windows which previously occupied their place. The preacher's pulpit was torn out at the time of Vatican II, leaving a white rendering repair wound. Many locations where the 19th century painting effaces it or falls allow to see older decorations. A coat of arms of argent with three wavy fasces of azure which surrounds a funeral border, is this a member of the family of Espaux Claude or Antoine de Chardonnay, lord of Espaux?