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Origin and history

The church Saint-Martin de Besson, located in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, is a Romanesque building built mainly in the 12th century. It consists of a central nave of four spans flanked by low-sides, a non-extinguishing transept, and a hemicycle choir surrounded by absidioles. The oldest parts, such as the choir and the transept, could go back to the 11th century, while the vault of the cross of the transept, collapsed, was rebuilt in the 17th century. The church houses Romanesque capitals decorated with vegetal and figurative motifs, as well as 15th and 17th century statues, including those of Saint Sebastian and Saint Roch.

The church was initially linked to the abbey of Saint-Philibert de Tournus, as evidenced by an act of 1077 by Bishop Durand de Clermont. Sold as a national property during the Revolution, it was bought by the Marquis de Tilly, then given to the commune in 1831 by the Bourbon-Busset family, which kept the Saint-Louis chapel. Ranked a historic monument in 1933, it has been the subject of recent restorations, including its 19th century furniture and stained glass windows, such as the one depicting Saint Louis, made by the Clermontian glass painter Martial Mailhot.

The architecture of the church reveals two construction campaigns: the eastern part, dated from the beginning of the twelfth century, and the western spans, completed towards the end of the same century. The bell tower, vaulted on ridges with veins, dates from the last campaign of works, while the main door, framed by three archvolts on colonettes, and the south gate, formerly adorned with a painted tympanum representing a Crucifixion, illustrate the Romanesque influence. The building was historically dependent on the prioral basilica of Souvigny, stressing its importance in the medieval religious network of Bourbonnais.

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