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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Priory of Montrion, located at Cellettes in the Loir-et-Cher, was mentioned as a dependency of the Benedictine Abbey of Thiron as early as 1119. This monument, whose current buildings date mainly from the 13th and 15th centuries, is organized around a rectangular courtyard framed by communes, a prioral house and a chapel. The chapel, rectangular with a unique nave extended by a semicircular apse arched in cul-de-four, houses a remarkable painted decoration from the late 13th century. These frescoes, organized in a Marian cycle, combine figurative scenes and ornamental motifs, testifying to the artistic importance of the site at that time.

In 1517, the priory began, marking a turning point in his ecclesiastical administration. Two centuries later, in 1715, it was reunited at the Jesuit College of Blois, before being sold as a national good in 1793 during the French Revolution. Transformed into a family home, however, the ensemble retains major medieval elements, including the 17th century dovecote and the chapel, classified as Historical Monument in 2006 for its paintings. The spatial organization, with the prior's home in the backyard and the chapel attenuated to the commons, reflects the typical structure of the rural priories of the region.

The wall paintings of the chapel, among the best preserved in the Centre-Val de Loire region for this period, illustrate episodes of the life of the Virgin and stylized geometric motifs. Their state of conservation and iconography make it a rare example of 13th century religious art in a prioral context. The site, although partially transformed after its secularization, remains a major architectural and artistic testimony of the medieval and modern monastic heritage in Sologne.

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