Chapelle Saint-Laurent à Tournus en Saône-et-Loire

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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Saint-Laurent Chapel of Tournus is a 10th-century religious building located 400 metres north of Saint-Philibert Abbey. Mentioned in 946 as a dependency of this abbey, it was one of the four chapels built by the monks. Its preroman architecture, marked by opus spicatum walls (stones arranged in fish edges) and a roof of hollow tiles, reflects a simplicity characteristic of the rural religious buildings of the period.

In the 12th century, the chapel was redesigned with the addition of a bell tower, then slightly modified in the 16th century for the opening of two windows. Threatened by destruction in 1904 to give way to a freight station, it was saved in extremis and classified as a historic monument on 22 December 1905. This classification allowed to preserve its modest rectangular plan, its unique nave not arched, and its remains of murals, including a possible 12th century Déposition de la Croix.

The interior, sober and stripped, includes a nave followed by two spans: the first, vaulted in a cradle, supports a discreet bell tower, while the second, slightly biased, ends with a straight bedside. Three windows pierce the side walls, and three bays illuminate the bedside. The fragmentary murals, although partially erased, offer a rare testimony of medieval religious decoration in Burgundy. The chapel thus illustrates the architectural and artistic evolution of small cultural buildings between the 10th and 16th centuries.

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