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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Saint Martin de Champagne church, located in Champagne-et-Fontaine in the Dordogne, is a monument dating back to the 12th century, with major transformations in the 13th, 14th and 16th centuries. It is distinguished by a western vaulted dogives, surmounted by a fortified bell tower, characteristic of the prioral churches of the region. This part, reinforced later by biased foothills, precedes three spans oriented eastward, whose warheads fall on engaged columns. The eastern span, illuminated by late Gothic windows, illustrates the stylistic evolutions of the building.

In the 13th century, a span was added to the west under the bell tower, then modified in the 14th and 16th centuries by the opening of a chapel and a large bay in the south wall. The 16th century marked a general reconstruction, disorienting the choir and nave from the bell tower. The western facade, pierced by a unique portal in Périgord, ends with an acute gable decorated with two rectangular bays. This portal, composed of four radiating striations, falls on columns with rough capitals, framed by a cord with nail heads.

The Romanesque remains are limited to a fragment of the north dropper wall, decorated with a broken arch and a flat foothill. The church, the seat of an ancient parish mentioned in a 13th-century stiletto, merged with that of Fontaine in 1832. Work to consolidate the vaults, led by P. Cocula around 1938, allowed its preservation. Classified as a Historical Monument in 1947, it bears witness to medieval and modern architectural superpositions in Périgord.

The building reflects the successive adaptations of a rural church from a defensive role (fortified enclosure) to a central parish function. Its portal, a rare ornamentation, and structural changes illustrate local influences and changing liturgical needs. Parish fusion in the 19th century marked its gradual decline as an autonomous religious centre, before its heritage protection in the 20th century.

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