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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The priory of Saint-Sauveur de Rochechouart, founded in 1049 by the monks of Charroux Abbey, was originally located near the Château de Rochechouart, on the territory of the parish of Biénac. This monastic site, now almost entirely extinct, remains only by a house transformed in the eighteenth century, located in Place des Halles. In 1990, however, its banal façade revealed a granite window with Gothic moldings, indicating an ancient origin. The works to install the court of instance allowed to rediscover frescoes of the sixteenth century, mentioned from the 1900s by Dr Marquet.

The frescoes revealed represent a bust of man in costume of the time of Louis XII or Francis I, accompanied by musical ranges and text. These decorations, comparable to those of the Château de Rochechouart, were protected in 1993 by a registration order under the Historical Monuments. Although the house lost its religious function after 1762, these paintings, now preserved under protection, testify to the artistic and historical importance of the priory, linked to both monastic life and the local court.

The building, which has been owned by the Haute-Vienne department since 1990, now houses the district court. Its painted decor, although not accessible to the public, remains a rare example of secular and religious art of the Renaissance in Limousin. The fresco and the wall that supports it, classified in 1993, are the only protected elements of this former priory, symbol of the medieval and reborn heritage of Rochechouart.

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