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Origin and history

The lower church of Lirac, located in the eponymous village of Occitanie, is a monument of the 10th and 11th centuries, marked by a double identity: parish church dedicated to Saint Peter and primitive crypt. Its origin is linked to a donation of 919 to the church of Notre-Dame des Doms in Avignon, confirmed in 1118 by a bubble of Pope Gélase II, which links Lirac to the monastery of Saint-André de Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. The present structure reveals a single vaulted nave in the middle of the wall, characteristic of medieval churches, while the lateral chapels and ogival choir (added in 1858) partially altered its original appearance.

The crypt, accessible on one level, is considered the primitive church, possibly an anterior castral chapel. Its pre-Roman architecture is distinguished by a nave and a semicircular apse arched in cul-de-four, with an axial bay. The access door, whose arch rests in retreat on the pedestals, is typical of the eleventh century. The ensemble is entirely covered with wet paintings, including a mandorled Christ surrounded by four figures (including Gregory and perhaps Benedictus), partially destroyed by later arrangements.

The major transformations included the replacement of the primitive abside in 1858 by a vaulted walkway, as well as the sculpture of capitals and caps in 1897. The paintings, damaged by the opening and then the rebuttal of an access from the upper church, attest to the reuse of the crypt as a secondary space. The southwest gate, leading to a staircase cut in the rock, suggests a link with the nearby castle, reinforcing the hypothesis of a castral origin.

Ranked a Historical Monument in 1992, the lower church illustrates the evolution of a medieval religious site, from its monastic foundation to its modern changes. Its painted, though fragmentary, decor offers a rare example of pre-Roman iconography in Occitanie, where local influences and universal Christian symbols combine.

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