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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativity, formerly the Prioral Church of Saint-Georges, was built in the 12th century in a Benedictine priory dependent on the Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Flavigny-sur-Ozerain. This priory, administered from the fourteenth century by that of Saint-Georges de Couches, housed a seigneurial chapel dedicated to the Pot family in its north transept. The fire of 1494 marked a turning point: the monks left La Rochepot for Couches, and the church, which became a branch of Beaubigny in 1527, acquired its parish autonomy in 1654 under the authority of the chapter of Autun.

The bell tower, rebuilt in the Renaissance, was capped with an arrow in 1822 after several restoration campaigns (carpent in 1776, foothills in 1783, absidioles and west gate between 1870-1875). The Romanesque portal visible in the north wall of the lower side, remains of the convent buildings, bears witness to the Benedictine history of the site. Ranked at the Historical Monuments in 1909, the church today preserves its name of Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativity, while bearing the traces of its architectural transformations and its prioral past.

The remains of the priory, sold at the Revolution, have disappeared, but the building remains a remarkable example of Romanesque architecture in Burgundy, mixing medieval heritage and later additions. Its classification in 1909 preserved this heritage linked to the order of Saint-Benoît and to the local seigneurial history, notably through the Pot family, whose private chapel remains in the north transept.

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