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Origin and history

The Sainte-Victoire church, built in Volx (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), is a Romanesque monument built in the 17th century. According to the sources, it was built in 1648 during the reign of Louis XIV, or between 1573 and 1610, with a lateral nave added around 1665. It replaces the Abbey of Our Lady of Baulis as a parish church, and its term could come from a local Celtic goddess, Andarta, christianized as Saint Victory.

The church consists of two unequal naves: a primitive central nave with vaulted choir at a doogives cross, and a north side added in the seventeenth century, perhaps as a funeral chapel for François Auguste de Valavoire, Marquis de Volx. Its bell tower, culminating at 22 meters, and its 19th century sacristy complete the building. The annual patronal feast celebrates Saint Victoire, whose cult could result from a substitution for an ancient divinity or local linguistic corruption.

The origins of the name "Holy Victory" remain debated: some sources associate it with a Roman goddess of Victoire, others with the Celtic goddess Andarta, venerated under this Romanized and then Christianized name. The historian Camille Jullian (1899) supports this theory, while the Historical Review evokes a corruption of the term Santo-Ventùri. The lateral nave, financed by the Marquis de Valavoire, sheltered their tomb, disappeared during the Revolution.

With 24 meters long and 11.50 meters wide, the church combines Romanesque elements (broken cradle vaults) and posterior additions like the campanile. His patronal feast, rooted in local tradition, blends legends and history, reflecting the progressive Christianization of pagan cults. Claude Domeizel and Blandine Maurel's research illustrate the differences in his exact dating between 1573 and 1665.

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