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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Priory of Saint-André-de-Rosans was founded in 988 following a donation by the Clerk Richaud to the Abbey of Cluny. The land offered covered several communes in the Hautes-Alpes, Drôme, Vaucluse and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. This priory, partially destroyed during the wars of Religion (16th century), remained until the Revolution. Its exceptional decor, linked to the vine (including Paga Debiti grape leaves), long led to its confusion with a temple dedicated to Bacchus.

The prioral church, today in ruins, preserves a choir and a transept typical of the first Romanesque art (XI century), as well as a nave of the 12th century. His remarkable remains include capitals, colonnades of the choir, and a mosaic pavement made by the same workshop as that of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Ganagobie. These elements illustrate the archaeological importance of the site, despite its partial disappearance after religious conflicts.

Ranked a historic monument since 1925 (for the ruins of the chapel) and 1987 (for the parish church and the convent buildings), the priory mixes clunisian heritage, medieval re-uses and traces of an active monastic life. Some parts, such as road crosses incorporating reused capitals, were protected in 1986. The site remains a rare testimony of Provencal Romanesque art and its connection to viticulture.

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