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Origin and history

The Notre-Dame-de-Claviers chapel, located in the hamlet of Jailhac in Moussages (Cantal), is a Romanesque building dating from the 11th and 12th centuries. Originally a castral chapel, it was mentioned before 1109 and became parish in 1519. Its sober architecture, with a half-circle bedside and a steeple-peigne pierced Romanesque hearing, reflects its medieval heritage. The door, surmounted by an unadorned lintel, is accessible by a semicircular perron added to the nineteenth century.

In the 19th century, the chapel was restored by the hermit François Lesmariés, who installed a carved cross path there. It then became a place of pilgrimage, initially sheltering a Virgin in majesty in a Romanesque niche of arched cul-de-four. This statue, called Our Lady of Claviers, is now preserved in the parish church of Mussages. The chapel has been protected as historical monuments since 1986.

The building illustrates the evolution of religious usages in Auvergne: first linked to a castle, it moves to parish status before experiencing a devotional renewal in the 19th century. Its rectangular plan and its Romanesque elements (hear, niche) make it a rare testimony of the rural religious architecture of this period. The property of the municipality remains a symbol of the local heritage.

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