Châtel-Montagne - Notre-Dame

In 1082 some Seigneur Dalmas and his wife Étiennette gave all the properties they owned in "Castrumin Montanis", including a church, to Cluny. This legal act was important enough to get an official approval from Pope Urban II in 1095.

A priory was set up - and a small church was erected. Parts of this church can still be found in the church seen here, built 1100 - 1200. The priory never really flourished, the community of monks was small - and already from 1462 on, the church was used as a parish church.

The church is quite large for a remote village of a population well under 500 (today). When it was planned during the boom of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella, Châtel-Montagne was ideally placed on one of the many "Chemin de St-Jacques" in France.

Looking from the southern aisle across the nave. The church has four bays. Most interesting here is the architectoral structure of the wall. There are three levels. The arches in the ground, then follows a matroneum, a gallery, that often can be seen in "pilgrim churches" (eg. Conques), topped by the clearstory. But - the matroneum is a fake. There is no gallery behind. They are only very few churches with this strange feature. One is in Vignory, far north.
Bernard Craplet, author of the important book "Auvergne Romane", sees influences from Burgundy (Cluny III, Paray-le-Monial), but even for him, the "fake matroneum" is "archaic".