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Origin and history

The Church of Notre-Dame de Castelnau-Pegayrols, located in the Aveyron department in the Occitanie region, is a Catholic building whose origins date back to at least the eleventh century. Former parish church, it was mentioned as early as 1082 in the cartular of the abbey of Saint-Victor among the donations of the bishop of Rodez. At that time it was dependent on the abbey of Vabres and was designated as Sancte ecclesiam Marie parrochialem. Its central role in local religious life is attested by its initial function as a parish, before being replaced by the church of Saint Michael in the early sixteenth century.

In 1507, during a pastoral visit by Bishop François d'Estaing, it was confirmed that the parish service had been transferred to the church of Saint-Michel, relegating Notre-Dame to the status of funeral chapel for the adjacent cemetery. The building, now decommissioned, was classified as a historic monument in 1930. Its architecture reflects a construction in two phases: the choir, dated from the end of the 11th century, and the nave added to the 12th century, marked by an atypical octagonal dome and cradle vaults. A southern side chapel was added in the 15th century, illustrating the stylistic evolutions of the building.

The style of the church recalls that of the nearby Saint-Michel church, with a western facade divided into three arches, although this division is purely decorative at Notre-Dame, which has only one nave. The murals adorning the choir, made in the 18th century, bear witness to late beautifications. The nave, covered with cradle vaults and doubles, contrasts with the dome of the last span, supported by columns added a posteriori. These architectural elements suggest successive changes, perhaps dictated by structural constraints or liturgical changes.

The history of the church is also linked to the medieval religious organization of the Rouergue. The charters of 1082 reveal its attachment to a network of churches under the authority of the abbey of Vabres and the bishop of Rodez, stressing its importance in structuring the local ecclesiastical power. The transition to a secondary role in the 16th century, and its gradual abandonment, reflects the transformation of the region's religious and demographic practices. Its classification in 1930 preserved this testimony of Romanesque and Gothic times in Aveyron.

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