Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Saint-Bonnet de Saint-Bonnet-la-Rivière, in the Corrèze department of New Aquitaine, replaces an earlier building destroyed by fire. Built in the early 17th century, it reuses a Romanesque portal from the 11th–12th centuries. The first Mass was celebrated there in 1608, and until the Revolution it depended on the abbey of Solignac. Its circular plan, inspired by the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, makes it an architecturally remarkable building.

In the 19th century, a sacristy was added to the east, behind the choir, and the interior decoration in false marble dates back to the 1870s. Classified as a historic monument on June 2, 1911, the church houses notable furniture, such as a 15th century polychrome Virgin of Mercy and a bell classified in 1908. Archaeological surveys in 2003 reveal bones, suggesting an initial vocation of the ossuary or funeral chapel.

The building combines medieval features (Romanesque portal, circular structure) with later additions (clocher, sacristy). A communal property, it also preserves a 17th century tabernacle and a Romanesque bentier. Its unique architecture, with a nave surrounded by columns and bottom-sides, makes it a rare testimony of limousine religious art.

The present bell, a copy of a model of 1525 recast in the 19th century, is dedicated to Saint Bonnet and Saint Anthony. A second bell, dating from 1675 and dedicated to Saint Anthony, has now disappeared. The church remains an active place of worship, while being a protected and studied heritage, as evidenced by the publications of the Monumental Bulletin (1869) and the Scientific Society of the Corrèze (1945).

External links