Church à Monsteroux-Milieu dans l'Isère

Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Saint-Laurent church, located in Monsteroux-Milieu in Isère, is a Romanesque building built mainly between the 11th and 13th centuries. Originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it is mentioned for the first time in 1055 in the cartular of St Peter of Vienna, although excavations suggest an origin from the tenth century. The present building, small, is built in rubble and pebbles, with a unique nave and a choir decorated with 13th century frescoes, classified with the church since 1976.

The frescoes of the choir, dated from the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century, represent scenes of the life of St. Lawrence of Rome and, according to one hypothesis, St. These paintings, made in a palette of ochres and black, recall the style of the paintings of the Château de Cruet and Theys. The triumphal arch, bearing a bell tower-peigne, rests on columns with carved capitals, while the facade has a door in full hanger and a bay added in the seventeenth century.

The church underwent major changes in 1838, including the renovation of the south wall, roofing and interior coatings. In 1972-1973, the fortuitous discovery of frescoes during works led to their restoration by the Historical Monuments. Contemporary stained glass windows, created by Jean-Jacques Fanjat, were installed in 2011. The building, a communal property, remains a medieval architectural and artistic testimony.

The church is located in the center of the upper hamlet of Monsteroux-Milieu, along the departmental road 46. Its north wall retains a liturgical swimming pool and a door of the dead overlooking the old parish cemetery. The larger windows of the south wall date from a period after the initial construction. The painted decoration, of late Gothic inspiration, illustrates the artistic importance of the region at that time.

External links