Notre-Dame (Piégros-la-Clastre)
The Catholic parish church of Notre-Dame in Piégros-la-Clastre , a commune in the Drôme department in the French region of Auvergne Rhône-Alpes , once belonged to an Augustinian Monastery . It was built towards the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th century. Extraordinary capitals from the construction period of the church have been preserved, which are among the earliest examples of Romanesque sculptures in the region. In 1988 the church was added to the list of architectural monuments ( Base Mérimée ) in France as Monument historique .
history
The name of the district of La Clastre is derived from the Latin word claustrum (included) - in German it was used as a monastery - and is taken as evidence of the existence of a religious order. In 1165 an Augustinian canon monastery consecrated to St. Medardus is mentioned for the first time, which was located at an altitude of 800 meters above the town of Piégros-la-Clastre and of which only ruins are preserved today. This Saint-Médard monastery, which was probably founded much earlier, also included the settlement below, to which the canons retreated in the cold winter months. Originally, the lower church was also consecrated to St. Medardus, who was Bishop of Noyon in the 6th century and was venerated as a weather saint .
In the second half of the 13th century the Augustinian canons gave up the monastery and around 1277 canons of the Abbey of Saint-Ruf from Avignon settled there. 1304 gave Pope Benedict XI. the monastery to the Antonites , who cared for lepers and those afflicted by the Antonius fire. The monastery remained in the possession of the Antonite Order until the French Revolution . The upper monastery was used as a hermitage in the 16th century .
During the wars of religion , the lower monastery buildings were badly damaged and the church lost its bell tower, which formerly rose above the choir . In the 18th century there was no longer any religious order. After the French Revolution, the church became a parish church and received its current patronage , consecrated to the Mother of God . In the years 1858 to 1862 the ship was lengthened by one yoke . Between 1968 and 1971 the Romanesque components were restored.
architecture
The church is single-nave and has no transept . A round arch opens the nave to the choir, which is higher than the nave and covered with a barrel vault. A semicircular apse adjoins the choir and spans a semi-dome. The apse wall is structured by six arched arcades on narrow columns . The central arch was lost when the apse window was enlarged. The pillars have capitals depicting a bird, heads, two angels with outspread wings, wickerwork and stylized acanthus leaves . These archaic capitals are dated to the late 11th or early 12th century and are among the oldest Romanesque sculptures in the region.
capital
capital
capital
In the 15th century a door to the sacristy was broken. It is bordered with a dew band decoration and crowned with a basket arch .
literature
- H. Desaye: L'Église romane de La Clastre . Piégros-la-Clastre o.J.
Web links
- Église de La Clastre in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- Église Notre-Dame Mairie de Piégros-la-Clastre (French text)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Église de La Clastre in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
Coordinates: 44 ° 41 '57 .7 " N , 5 ° 5' 52.7" E