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Origin and history

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption of Peillonnex finds its origins in an Augustine priory attested from the beginning of the eleventh century. Founded by a donation from Count Robert (between 1012 and 1019), the priory is linked to a pre-existing church, built before 988 under the impetus of the Bishop of Geneva, Giraud. The donation, approved by Bishop Hugues and Pope Benedict VIII, marks the religious anchor of the site. In 1156, the Priory was attached to the Abbey of Abundance by Count Amédée I of Geneva, before suffering internal tensions in the 14th century, then going under the regime of the beginning of the 15th century.

The priory experienced major upheavals: he was burned in 1589 during the Bernese occupation and was threatened with suppression in 1781, with a project to transfer his property to Carouge. The French Revolution ended its dissolution in 1792-1793, with the permanent expulsion of the canons. The present church, built between the late 12th and early 13th centuries in a late Romanesque style, becomes a place of Marian devotion, notably thanks to a silver statue of the Virgin of the Assumption (17th century), object of pilgrimages to implore rain or the end of epidemics.

The building, marked by successive restorations (notably in 1887), and the construction of a new bell tower in 1858, was listed as historical monuments in 1971. Its stucco altarpiece and broken nave illustrate its architectural heritage. The pilgrimage of 15 August, which was revived by the bishop of Annecy in 1887, lasted until the 1980s, attesting to his attachment to local tradition.

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