The treasures of Saint-Laurent church in Neuvy-Pailloux

The frescoThe fresco | ©Anecdotrip.com / CC-BY-NC-SA

The church

On the reeds

In the beginning, we have here a small Paleo-Christian building, from the 6th c.

They rebuilt the church in the 10th century, then later in the 19th c., because of the dampness: Neuvy-Pailloux means “the new city on reeds”!

It was architect Dauvergne who launched the building site. But problems of dampness and stability weren’t solved, so they decided to raze the church, and replaced it by the current church, in the 20th c. Easier!

From the Romanesque era, the choir, the tower-bell and the apse (with frescos) still standing…

Stony boars

Let’s go round the church, to have a nice view on the chevet.

Did you notice one of the modillions? Two little animal heads: wolf or boar, we don’t know…

The decoration

Frescos, in the past covered by an awful blue whitewash, were re-discovered in 1986.

Paintings represent the Christ in majesty flanks by his angels: they date back to the 12th century, probably made by monks from abbey of Déols.

We also notice a gorgeous Christ statue (16th c.) and a painting given by a young woman from Neuvy: her brother died during World War I.

So she made this painting (his brother killed by a shot and welcomed by the Virgin) and gave it to the church…

Dig

During the dig in 1986, they found tombs, especially Merovingian graves, part of a giant necropolis: for instance, a tomb belonged to a young lady who lived in the 7th c., with pearls, necklaces and a magnificent bronze ring…

The city didn’t keep those treasures! They sent them (we don’t know why) in Louvre museum, in Paris…