Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Church of Notre-Dame de Chapelle-Spinasse comes from a donation of 945, when Bosson, brother of Raynald of Aubusson and lay abbot, gave the building, the village and its lands to the Abbey of Saint-Martial de Tulle. This gesture marked the beginning of his status as priory, later attached to Grandsaigne. The monument, typical of the Correzian architecture, was originally built as a small, unique nave sanctuary and square bedside in the 12th century.

Over the centuries, the church undergoes major transformations. At the end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century, it was enlarged by the addition of side chapels and vaulted with dogive crosses. Its western portal, adorned with seven rolls carried by frieze columns and capitals, dates from this period. Between 1150 and 1250, the nave was built, then rebuilt in the last quarter of the 15th or early 16th century, with the restoration of the vaults and the addition of three chapels.

Church history is also marked by periods of decline. In 1750, in bad condition, it was forbidden to worship. The wall bell tower, damaged by lightning in 1783, was restored the following year, but these works resulted in the shortening of a span to the west and the moving of the gate into the new gable wall. Despite these hazards, the building, classified as a Historic Monument in 1977, remains a valuable testimony to the local religious and architectural heritage.

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