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Origin and history

The Levignac portal, also known as the Levinhac portal, is a 12th century Romanesque architectural element located in the municipality of Saint-Côme-d'Olt, in the department of Aveyron, in the Occitanie region. Today it is the only vestige of a missing church, built near a ford on the Lot, a strategic crossing point for herds in transhumance towards Aubrac. This portal, originally integrated into a church built by the monks of the Abbey of Aniane in 1028, was ceded in 1208 to the hospital of Aubrac, which established a priory and infirmary there.

In the 19th century, the religious buildings were destroyed, but Senator Casimir Mayran managed to save the gate in 1854 by moving it to its current location near the castle of Lévinhac. Excavations carried out after the destruction of the church revealed graves, some of which contained skeletons with skulls covered with shells, an intriguing funeral practice. The portal, remarkable by its nine vestures and its sculpted tympanum, was inscribed in historical monuments on 17 April 1950.

From an artistic point of view, the portal is distinguished by its tympanum adorned with a six-pointed chrism framed by two angels, as well as geometrical motifs and animal sculptures, including a monster devouring a human. The six columns of the ebrasements, surmounted by finely worked capitals, testify to the know-how of the Romanesque artisans. This portal, now part of a private property, remains a valuable testimony of medieval religious architecture in Rouergue.

The historical sources also mention a Romanesque chapel with crypt on the site, now extinct. The lintel of the gate, decorated with two nestled characters holding an open book, as well as roses and animals, confirms a dating in the second half of the 12th century. These iconographic elements suggest a strong religious symbolism, linked to the dissemination of sacred texts and the protection of travellers and pilgrims on this path to Aubrac.

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