A little history of Notre-Dame church in Sentein
And also
The tops
We are here near Spain, in the beautiful high valley of Biros...
In the middle of the little village of Sentein, we come across this nice fortified church, a real fortress...
Its huge bell-tower (42 metres high) is very impressive!
In the 13th century, the church was surrounded by a big wall, 40 metres long. We had 4 round towers: two of them are still standing.
The bell-tower of the church was a kind of keep, where inhabitants took shelter in case of war.
The Romanesque church was began in the 12th century: from that time, only left the basis of the bell-tower, the upper part dates back to the 14th century.
Then, at the end of the 17th century, they levelled this tower with 2 floors. The high spire was added 100 years after. They even demolished the church’s fortified wall in the 19th century...
But in the beginning of the 21th century, the roof completely collapsed! The French Nation didn’t care about that church lost in the middle of Ariège...
Fortunately, an association decided to restore the building, in 2002. They collected the money and the building site started 4 years later.
Nowadays, we can visit the church, with nice frescos (16th century) in the choir, discovered in 1966...