EGLISE SAINT-ALBAN

Construction of the Saint-Alban church, on the Via Podensis, began in the 12th century, and continued in the 14th and 15th centuries. The building was restored in the 17th and 18th centuries, after the Wars of Religion, and then enlarged in the 19th century. The original portal was located at the western end of the south wall. The enlargement of the nave was accompanied by the construction of the current porch. The oldest part is the choir, with a vaulted apse. It is decorated with 2 semicircular arches. There are several sculpted capitals (one of them represented a troubadour playing a musical instrument). Note: the use of different stones to play on the polychromy. The bay of the choir includes a trapdoor leading to a crypt that served as a burial vault. At the end of the descent shaft, a low barrel-vaulted room contained 3 bodies and the recumbent figure of St-Félix. Directly above the triumphal arch stands a bell tower with two levels of arcades. The bell tower is typical of Margeride, it is a three-bay wall bell tower. Demolished during the Revolution, it was rebuilt in 1891, inspired by the original form. Information from the Mérimée database

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