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Origin and history

The church Saint-Pierre-l'Estrier d'Autun, located in the department of Saône-et-Loire, finds its origins in the 9th century, on the site of a palaeo-Christian basilica or monastery attested as early as 843 under the name of Saint-Pierre. This site, already occupied in Roman times, housed a cemetery used before Christianization and then between the third and fifth centuries. Only 50 metres from the church, the Greek inscription of Pectorios (IIIth century), the first mention of Christ in Roman Gaul, highlights the historic importance of the place. The current building, rebuilt in the 11th century, replaces this early basilica, while nearby, the church of Saint-Étienne and the mausoleums of the Lower Empire remain partially visible until the 18th century.

In the middle of the 18th century, a report described Saint-Pierre-l'Estrier as "fort ugly and irregular," but the church retained its bell tower and sacristy, destroyed in 1836 when the building served as a barn. Classified as a Historic Monument in 1979, it is the subject of archaeological excavations revealing remains of the first and second centuries. A 2020 campaign on the adjacent PaleoChristian cemetery exhumed 150 graves, including sandstone sarcophagus, wooden or lead coffins, and an exceptional glass diatrete vase (VIth-VIIth century) — first discovered in France — containing traces of grey amber. This vase, engraved with "VIVAS FELICITER" ("Live with bliss"), bears witness to the high status of its owner, probably a local dignitary.

The excavations also confirmed the continuity of occupation of the site, from Antiquity to medieval times, with traces of a Merovingian and Carolingian necropolis. The church, now owned by an association, thus embodies an architectural and funeral palimpsest, where 1,500 years of religious and social history overlap. Its ranking and recent discoveries make it a major milestone to understand the Christianization of Burgundy and funeral practices in Roman Gaul and the High Middle Ages.

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