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Origin and history

The Saint-André de Taxat church, located in the hamlet of Taxat on the town of Taxat-Senat (Allier), is a Romanesque building built in the 11th or 12th century on ancient foundations. Undocumented, his first written mention dates back to 1217. After a partial collapse of its northern structure, it was enriched in the 14th century with murals, much of which remains today. These paintings, dated from the years 1300-1330, depict scenes of the life of Christ and the Virgin, with red and yellow ochre colors still visible.

The church lost its religious function during the French Revolution: sold as a national property on 1 February 1791, it was transformed into an agricultural building. Its architecture was then changed (opened barn door, expanded gate), and its condition deteriorated until the collapse of the vaults and roof in the 1950s. Despite its registration for historical monuments in 1942, its restoration started only in 1980 thanks to the association Les Amis du Vieux Taxat, which became its owner in 2005. The frescoes were partially discovered in the 1990s and the roof was rebuilt in 2012.

The building consists of a nave with three spans flanked by bottoms, a salient transept and an apse in a cul-de-four, initially accompanied by two apsidioles (one of which has disappeared). A diaphragm wall, supporting a bell tower with two arches, separates the nave from the arched transept in a cradle. The arms of the transept are illuminated by trilobed intrados berry. Among the remarkable elements, there is a 12th-century Virgin with Child preserved at the Mandet Museum in Riom, as well as nine statues of Virgins whose exact origin (Saint Andrew's Church or Saint Martin's Church in Senat) remains uncertain.

The murals, damaged but partially restored, illustrate various religious themes: Virgin with Child with Donor, Baptism of Christ, Paschal Lamb, or scenes of the Nativity. A funerary liter and the remains of a tree of Jesse complete this set. The Association Les Amis du Vieux Taxat, founded in 1980, has as its mission the restoration of the site, its enhancement and public awareness of this medieval heritage threatened.

The church once depended on the priory of Saint-Germain de Salles. Its history reflects the religious and social upheavals, from its Romanesque construction to its conversion into a farm, and its renaissance through community involvement. The frescoes, rare testimonies of the 14th century mural painting in Auvergne, make it a site of major interest for the study of regional medieval art.

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