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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The monument to the dead of Rauret was designed in the inter-war period to pay tribute to the children of the village who died for France. Initially, in 1919, architect Régis Roche proposed to enlarge the parish church, considered too small, by adding a lateral chapel dedicated to the deceased. This project, perceived as a misappropriation of subsidies by the prefect, is refused. The commune decided to finance the extension of the church itself and to incorporate a separate monument to the dead, designed by Roche and carved by the marbrier Jean Arnaud.

The monument, completed in 1926, takes the form of a sober stone fire from Jagonas, a local quarry. Flanched with two columns with deciduous capitals, it supports a polylobed arch with a cenotaph. The names of the dead soldiers are engraved there. Its style is inspired by the Romanesque art of the Velay, with ornamental details (archicvolt with balls, wrought tiles) evoking regional models such as the portal of the Sainte-Foy de Bains church. This artistic choice reflects the rediscovery, at the time, of the local Romanesque heritage, theorized by the Thiollier brothers in 1900 in their work on religious architecture of the diocese of Puy.

Ranked a historic monument in 2019, the Rauret Monument embodies both a duty of memory to the victims of the First World War and an scholarly celebration of the Romanesque architectural heritage. Its integration into the church, by its location and style, makes it a unique testimony to the cultural and commemorative concerns of the inter-war period in Haute-Loire.

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