Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame de Lherm, originally dedicated to Saint Ferréol (bishop of Limoges in 597), was built in the 12th century according to a simple Romanesque plan: an un arched nave and a semicircular apse decorated with sculptures. This first building, partially preserved, reflects the rural religious architecture of the medieval era.

After the Hundred Years' War, the ruined village and church were rebuilt thanks to Raymond de Saint-Gily, Lord of Lherm. The revenues of the iron mills financed the addition of two side chapels (late 15th–early 16th century for the southern chapel, sixteenth century for the north), transforming the plan into a Latin cross. A bell tower forming narthex, vaulted dogives, was erected around 1520, accompanied by a Renaissance gate decorated with medallions (mutilated during the Revolution).

Around 1650 the church changed its name to Notre-Dame-de-l'Assumption. The nave was vaulted in cradle (undetermined date), and the span of the painted choir. In the last quarter of the seventeenth century, a baroque altarpiece (attributed to the workshop of John II Tournié) was installed, representing the Assumption framed by Saint John the Baptist and Saint Ferréol. This furniture, along with a bell of 1597, are classified as Historical Monuments.

The stained glass windows, made in 1930 by the Saint-Blancat workshop in Toulouse, complete the decoration. The building, a communal property, was inscribed in the Historical Monuments on 23 April 1979, reflecting its architectural evolution from the novel to the Baroque, marked by post-conflict reconstructions and seigneurial additions.

The church also illustrates local economic history: its rise in the 16th century was linked to the exploitation of iron mills, a major activity of the region. Its furniture (table, bell) and stained glass reflect periods of artistic and religious prosperity, from the Middle Ages to the modern era.

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