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Origin and history

The church of the Nativity-de-la-Très-Sainte-Vierge de Moutier-Rozeille, located in the Creuse in New Aquitaine, is a former collegiate church dedicated to Saint Martin, dependent on Saint-Yrieix. Built mainly in the 11th and 12th centuries, it was redesigned in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its atypical plan for the Limous region contrasts with a decor of capitals and columnettes typically Limousin. The building preserves a choir, a south apsidiole and southern crusillons dating from the 12th century, while two arcades connect the choir to the apsidioles of the transept.

The religious community of Moutier-Rozeille was attested as early as 854 in an act by Charles II le Chauve, which linked the site to the abbey Saint-Martin de Tours with Saint-Yrieix. In the 11th century, the monastery, then delabrated, became a dependency of Saint-Yrieix under the impulse of Raynaud, Viscount of Aubusson. It then houses twelve canons led by a provost. The church, transformed in the seventeenth century, remains a remarkable testimony of limousine Romanesque monastic architecture.

Classified as a Historic Monument since June 15, 1926, the church now belongs to the commune. Its history is documented by sources such as the Société française d'Archéologie and the Fondation Mérimée, which highlight its past role as a collegiate body and its heritage interest. The limousine-style capitals and columns, as well as its original plan, make it a distinctive building in the regional religious landscape.

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