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Origin and history

The Saint Vincent de Ria church, mentioned in 1134 under the name Sancti Vincentii de Arriano, was originally built in the 11th century in a Romanesque style. It then depended on the abbey of Saint-Michel de Cuxa, after having been ceded by the bishop of Elne. The bell tower, the only vestige of this period, has Lombard arches and a characteristic trapezoidal structure. The original three-nave building was almost entirely destroyed to give way to a reconstruction in the 17th century, again modified in the 18th century.

The western gate, protected with the bell tower since 1964, is distinguished by its two pink marble rollers: the inner roller dates from the 12th century, while the exterior, engraved from the date 1628, bears witness to the Baroque transformations. The bell tower, 22 meters high, partially preserves its arrow covered in lauze, a rarity in the area where most of the bell towers were crenellated between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Its arcature decoration divides the tower into two floors, pierced with arches and bays in the middle of the hangar.

The present church, in the shape of an irregular Latin cross, incorporates a vaulted nave supported by cruciform pillars and asymmetrical collaterals (sud curved, flat north). The bedside, accessible by a triumphal arch, is home to redone vaults, with the exception of one under the bell tower, of Romanesque origin. The village of Ria, located at an altitude of 400 m on the left bank of the Tet, formed with Sirach a community linked to the trans-Pyrenean agriculture and commerce, as evidenced by the relics of Saint Vincent de Collioure, a martyr venerated locally.

The building is dedicated to Saint Vincent, probably Vincent de Collioure, a martyr of the fourth century whose relics rest in Collioure. This dedication reflects the cultural importance of the local saints in the Roussillon, often associated with viticulture (saint Vincent de Zaragoza, patron of the winemakers). The transformations of the 17th and 18th centuries met the needs of an expanding parish, while preserving emblematic Romanesque elements.

Historical sources, such as the acts of 864 and 953, confirm the site's seniority, but the church did not appear clearly until 1134. Later excavations and studies (notably those of Noël Bailbé on the bell towers of Roussillonnais) underline its role in Catalan religious architecture, between Romanesque heritage and Baroque adaptations. Today, the church remains a testimony of cultural and artistic exchanges in Conflent, between France and Catalonia.

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