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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Leproserie de la Bajasse, located in Vieille-Brioude near the confluence of the Senouire and the Allier, was founded around 1150 by Canon Odilon de Chambon. A priory and a church were joined shortly thereafter, and the whole received numerous donations. At its peak in the 14th century, it welcomed not only lepers but also pilgrims, while passing under the authority of the diocese of Saint-Flour. In 1326 the leprosy and the priory were officially assembled, marking a period of prosperity linked to its dual health and religious vocation.

In the 18th century, with the decline of leprosy in France, leprosy was attached to the hospital of Brioude in 1753, after a long legal battle between the priors and the Hôtel-Dieu. The priory's property, including the ornaments of the church, was transferred, and the buildings, left abandoned, threatened to ruin. The definitive abolition of the priory was carried out in 1756 by the Paris Parliament, at the request of Pope Benedict XIV. The Revolution spared property, already communal property, but it was not until 1860 that the premises were sold and converted into a farm, the church even serving as a stable.

In the 20th century, the church of the Bajassa, the last notable vestige of the leprosy, was restored by an entrepreneur after its acquisition. Ranked a historic monument in 2002 for its Gothic elements of the 12th century, it experienced a new vocation in 2014, furnished as a restaurant by its owners. The 15th century bridge over the Senouire, still standing, still bears witness to the strategic importance of the site in medieval times, linking Vieille-Brioude with neighbouring villages like Fontannes.

Historical sources, such as the work of Abbé Édouard Peyron (1899) or Yves Soulingeas (1973), highlight the economic and social role of the Bajassa, a major dependence of the Hôtel-Dieu de Brioude in the 18th century. Its church, the only remaining structure, retains sculpted elements characteristic of the beginning of Gothic art, while the archives reveal legal conflicts and donations that marked its history. The site, now communal property, illustrates the evolution of leproseries in hospital institutions, then in reinvested architectural heritage.

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