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Origin and history

The Abbey of St. Peter of Vigeois was founded in the 6th century by Saint Yrieix (Arède d'Atane) before 572, as evidenced by his will. Destroyed during the Viking invasions in the ninth century, it was raised before becoming a Benedictine abbey. In the 11th century, it was placed under the dependence of Solignac (ca. 1030), then Saint-Martial de Limoges (1082-1230). Its church, built in the 11th-XIIth centuries, features a choir and transept completed in 1124, with remarkable carved capitals and modillons.

The abbey suffered numerous destructions: fire around 1070, ruin during the Hundred Years' War (reconstruction ordered in 1489), fire of the nave by Protestants in 1590, and a new fire in 1705. In 1635 she joined the Congregation of the Exemptions of Guyenne, before being united with the seminary of Limoges in 1745. The French Revolution led to its suppression in 1790, the dispersal of monks, and the partial demolition of monastic buildings to serve as a stone quarry.

The Abbatial Church, listed as a Historical Monument in 1886, is a Romanesque jewel in Lower Limousin. Its nave, rebuilt in 1866, contrasts with the choir of the twelfth century. The remaining convent buildings, transformed into houses, housed the abbey's house, where Marie-Rose Boumousse (1889-1966), the first woman mayor of France, was born in 1943. His role was decisive during the German occupation in 1944, saving the village by negotiating with the officers.

Today the parish church, the site retains major architectural elements: turrets of access to the attic, bell tower decorated with statues of St Peter and St Paul, and a polylobed door. The restorations (choir in 1908) and works of art (tables by Haquette and Jacquand) bear witness to his rich past. The archives, like the cartular of Vigeois (954-1167), document its medieval history.

Historical sources point to its regional importance, cited by authors such as Jean Maury (Limousin roman) or Dom Berland. Its architecture and its history make it a key monument of the Corrèze, linked to figures such as Geoffroy du Breuil (chronicor of the 12th century) or Archambault de Comborn, which crept around 1050 before rebuilding it by remorse.

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