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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Clunisian Priory Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Ronsenac was probably founded in the early 12th century to welcome seven monks, including the Prior. This religious site, marked by the Wars of Religion, lost its original bedside before the seventeenth century. Today only the Romanesque nave and part of the western wall of the southern crusillon remain, testimonies of this medieval era.

In 1684, the English Benedictines of Saint James in Paris settled there, while three Clunisian monks still resided there. The west facade, heavily restored between 1880 and 1896, retains a door with five framed arches and carved capital columns. A tympanic lion, now embedded in the convent buildings, would come from this original facade.

The current rectangular choir, built between 1878 and 1880, replaces the old square of the transept. Inside, the capitals of the columns and columns of the bottoms and windows reveal a Saintongese artistic influence. The church, classified as a Historic Monument in 2009, closes a Conventual enclosure of a rare architectural unit, reflecting its prioral past.

Architect E. Delarue intervened during the restorations of the late 19th century. The site, owned by the commune, includes protected archaeological remains on its plot. Its history illustrates the transitions between Clunisians, Benedictines, and modern reconstructions, in a regional context marked by religious conflicts.

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