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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of the Nativity-de-Notre-Dame, located in Lieuche in the Alpes-Maritimes, is a 17th-century religious building in rustic Baroque style. Until the 19th century, the village was a strategic passage on the roads linking Touët-sur-Var to Beuil and Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée to Puget-Théniers, before being isolated by the opening of the gorges of Cians.

The monument owes its fame to the altarpiece of the Annunciation, made in 1499 by the painter Nice Louis Bréa. Ordered by Prior Louis Lausi, this nine-compartment altarpiece has 27 characters, including a central Annunciation surrounded by saints and biblical scenes. Its exceptional state of conservation makes it a major work of primitive painting in Nice.

The altarpiece reveals precise historical details: Louis Lausi, Prior of Lieuche from 1497 to 1507, engraved his name and the date of completion (15 January 1499) on the work. After his priesthood, he became a priest in Nice. The altarpiece, combining medieval influences and Renaissance, also illustrates scenes such as the Crucifixion, Saint Sebastian or Saint Christophe.

Classified as an additional inventory of historical monuments since 26 April 1989, the church also preserves liturgical objects as a processional cross in brass and enamel. Its modest architecture contrasts with the artistic richness of the altarpiece, a witness to the religious and cultural importance of Lieuche at the end of the Middle Ages.

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