Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The chapel Saint-Jean-Baptiste is an ancient church in the medieval hamlet of Alloche (or Allauch), the first inhabited nucleus of the municipality of La Tour in the Alpes-Maritimes. Located an hour's walk from the present village, it dates back to the 14th century and was probably the religious center of a village abandoned after an epidemic of plague. His story is mentioned in the Chorography of Nice County, which mentions the obligation for the parish priest of La Tour to receive his nomination.

In the 17th century, the chapel was enlarged by the addition of a nave, changing its initial orientation east-west to north-south. The primitive L-abside, now the lateral choir, preserves frescoes made around 1540 by an anonymous artist. These murals, very degraded, illustrate episodes of the life of Saint John the Baptist (announced in Zacharias, baptism of Christ, takeoff, etc.) and could be repaints of an older decor. A central triptych depicts its burial and incineration in front of Emperor Julien.

Classified as a historical monument on September 14, 1943, the chapel today belongs to the municipality of La Tour. Its isolation and its state of conservation make it a rare testimony of medieval and modern religious art in the Alpes-Maritimes. The frescoes, though fragmentary, offer an overview of local artistic practices in the 16th century, mixing Provençal and Italian influences.

Historical sources cite in particular the works of Alexis Mossa (1913) and Luc Thévenon (1983), who studied these paintings in the wider context of medieval art in the southern Alps. The site, accessible by a trail, remains a place of both religious and architectural heritage, linked to the forgotten history of the village of Alloche.

External links