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Origin and history

The church of the Sainte-Trinité des Contamines-Montjoie is a Savoyard Baroque building erected in 1759. Prior to that date, the inhabitants of the village depended on the parish of Saint-Nicolas-de-Véroce, located an hour's walk away. After ten years, they obtained permission to build their own church. The works were entrusted to Domenico Gualino de Sastegno, Piedmontese master of work, by a contract signed on 5 September 1758 in Sallanches. The building, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, consists of a unique nave with three spans for the faithful and two for the choir. The facade is decorated with statues representing St Peter, St Paul and the Good Shepherd, while the dove of the Holy Spirit symbolizes the Trinity under the awning.

The square bell tower, surmounted by an arrow around 1850, rests on the foundations of a tower of an old destroyed border castle, dating from before the fourteenth century, when the Faucigny was attached to the Savoy. This tower was even designed by painter William Turner in 1802. The entrance door, carved in a Savoyard Baroque style by an artisan from Viuz-en-Sallaz, is framed by pilasters and antelope. Inside, an 18th century beam of glory separates the nave from the sanctuary, where a Christ on a cross sits. The retables, redone around 1840, and the high altar, adorned with a carved dais, are surrounded by statues of Saints Augustine and François de Sales, the latter having been bishop of Annecy from 1602 to 1622.

The side altars are dedicated to St Joseph — accompanied by St Peter and St Barthélémy — and to the Virgin with the Child, surrounded by St Agathe and St Margarita. The vault is decorated with frescoes depicting the four Evangelists, as well as Saint Guérin and Saint Francis de Sales above the gallery. The building was renovated in 1882 by Piedmontese workers and then in 1976 by the painter Édouard Borga, thus preserving his artistic and historical heritage.

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