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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais of Lurcy-le-Bourg, an ancient priorial church founded at the end of the 11th century under the direct authority of Cluny, preserves 12th century Romanesque elements, visible in the transept, the first span of the choir and the lateral chapels. Its cradle vaults, arches in the middle of the wall and hardwood capitals testify to this period. The west facade still has a Romanesque archvolt, a vestige of the old entrance.

At the beginning of the 16th century, after a fire during the wars of religion, the bedside with cut strips and the bell tower were rebuilt in a flamboyant gothic style, with emplacement windows and dogive vaults. The coat of arms of Pierre de Fontenay (Bishop of Nevers and Prior, died in 1522) adorn the arch keys. Romanesque capitals are re-used in the lower hall of the bell tower, illustrating the continuity between the periods.

Abandoned during the Revolution, the church was in poor condition in the 19th century. Between 1869 and 1880, architect Charles Lutz reconstructed the nave and the lower side in a neo-Roman style, adding vaults of arrest and a bell at the cross of the transept. The chapels of the Virgin and of Saint Joseph, decorated in 1876 by Alexandre Dreux and François Verdier (société de Saint-Grégoire de Tours), present a historicist iconography of Érudite.

The building, fully protected since 2019, includes a private funeral vault. Its Latin cross plan and its successive additions reflect a rich architectural history, marked by clunisian influences, Gothic reconstructions and 19th century restorations.

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