Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of the Décollation-de-Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Grury replaced an earlier building, demolished in 1871, which was located below the village, on the road of Montperroux and Toulon-sur-Arroux. This ancient church, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, was razed to give way to a new, more central construction, symbolizing the urban and religious evolution of the village in the 19th century.

The construction of the present church began in 1879, according to the plans of the Austrian architect Louis Lagoutte, built in 1877. The construction site was built over several years, and the building remained unfinished until 1896, when the bell tower was erected according to the plans of the Chalonese architect Malo (1895). The final reception of the works took place in 1900, marking the conclusion of a project marked by land donations and architectural adaptations.

The church adopts a traditional plan, with a nave of three spans flanked by collaterals, a salient transept and a narrow choir extended by a semicircular apse. The latter, arched in cul-de-four, is adorned with an absidial arching with nine shapes in the middle, typical of the neo-Roman or neo-medieval inspiration of the era. The furniture includes a baroque high altar in painted and gilded wood, as well as a medieval funeral slab, discovered during the demolition of the old church and attributed to Jean de Bourbon, lord of Montperroux.

Today, the church of Grury remains an active place of worship, attached to the diocese of Autun and to the parish of the Good Shepherd (seat in Toulon-sur-Arroux). It illustrates the religious and heritage vitality of the region, as well as the architectural and social transformations of the 19th century in rural Burgundy.

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