Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Notre-Dame-de-Sardaigne chapel, located in the cemetery of Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne (Alpes-Maritimes), is mentioned for the first time between 1138 and 1143 in a bubble of Pope Innocent II. This building, originally parish church until 1720, was then transformed into a funeral chapel. Its architecture, marked by claws at the base of the columns and a vault in broken cradle partially rebuilt in the 16th century, suggests a construction dating back to the late 12th century. The chapel illustrates the Provencal Romanesque style, with a unique nave with three spans and a semicircular apse.

The chapel houses remarkable furniture, including a fourth century Roman sarcophagus containing the ashes of Marcus Octavius Nepos, as well as a reliquary bust of Saint Césaire, authenticated in 1679 by Bishop Louis d'Aube de Roquemartine, Bishop of Grasse. This reliquary contains a phalange of the bishop, while a second reliquary is dedicated to Saint Victoire. These elements underline the religious and memorial role of the place throughout the centuries.

Ranked a historic monument since December 9, 1939, the chapel is distinguished by its western facade decorated with a cruciform bay and its neat stone apparatus. Its history reflects the liturgical and architectural evolutions of the region, from its medieval parish use to its present function within the municipal cemetery. The sources, such as Jacques Thirion's works (Romanesian Alps, 1980), confirm his heritage importance in the country of Haute-Siagne.

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