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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Chalmazel-Jeansagnière, built in the 4th quarter of the 19th century (1881), replaces an earlier building demolished. Its eclectic architecture, mostly neo-Roman, is inspired by models published by the architectural journals of the time. The rectangular plan, oriented north-south, and the polychromy of materials (local granit, Volvic stone and imported white sandstone) create striking visual contrasts, highlighting the spatial divisions and contours of the bays. Inside, the nave flanked by collaterals leads to a semicircular choir, decorated with sober but neat paintings on the intrados and vault keys.

The stained glass windows, made between 1942 and 1944 by the Belgian glass master Théodore-Gérard Hanssen, constitute an exceptional set of sixteen bays. They narrate in parallel the life of Jesus and that of Saint John the Baptist, with a chromatic symbolism reinforced by the orientation of the church: the red tones (young) to the east oppose the blues (adult and dead) to the west, amplified by the light of the rising or setting sun. These stained glass windows are born from a promise made during the First World War between Hanssen and the parish priest Léon Noyer, a friend met in the trenches. Wounded in 1917, Hanssen was late in honouring his commitment, using glasses made at the glassworks in Saint-Just.

The church is the work of architect Charles-Marie Franchet (1838–1902), a former collaborator and then associate of Pierre Bossan, a major figure in Lyon's religious architecture. Franchet led the project with the Lyon entrepreneur Étienne Clément, while an octagonal bell tower was added in 1936 by another contractor, in accordance with the original style. The request for protection of the monument, carried jointly by the municipality and the Country of Art and History of the Forez, led to its inscription in the Historical Monuments on 4 January 2021, covering the entire building.

Chalmazel-Jeansagnière, a rural village on the border of the Loire and Puy-de-Dôme, preserves an ancient built heritage, including a castle of Marcilly-Talau. The commune has been transformed into a winter sports resort since 1953, combining historical heritage and modern tourist development. The church, a communal property, is part of this contrasting landscape, showing both the influence of 19th century architectural currents and artistic networks born of the Great War.

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