Share
The Sainte-Croix church was built on site below the Château des Vicomtes. Dating back to approximately the 13th century, rumour has it that it was built to house a fragment of the True Cross brought back from the Crusades.
Modified and extended during the 17th century, it was destroyed during the French Revolution. It subsequently served as a meeting place for the town’s popular society, a group set up for discussion amongst citizens, before being used to accommodate prisoners of war.
Since the early 19th century it has been reopened for worship and decorated with murals.
It houses a variety of artefacts including several Aubusson tapestries depicting Biblical scenes, for example The Miraculous Catch of Fish and Tobias Healing His Father’s Blindness.
The church is also home to sculptures and paintings including the monumental canvas, The Seven Works of Mercy, a 19th century painting by Jean-Louis Bezard.
It also accommodates an organ made in 1982.
Outside the church on the left at the foot of the steps stands a building which accommodated the châtelain alongside a prison, a jurisdiction of the former regime which later became the criminal court after the Revolution.
In the mid 19th century, the building was used as a boarding school for young girls.
A tapestry workshop in the 1980’s, the building now functions as a private house.
An 18th century manor house is located further down Rue Châteaufavier, and is owned by the local council.
Above the door, the ornamental metalwork of the fanlight represents four intertwining snakes accosting a tortoise, whilst the door knocker takes the form of a ram’s head. The interior also features several ornamentations, including carved stone fireplaces.
