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Origin and history

Saint-André de Saint-André-de-Bâgé is a 12th-century Romanesque building built on the initiative of the Sisters of Bâgé. Ulrich I ordered it to be built around 1074 and donated it to the abbey of Saint-Philibert de Tournus. Destined to receive the graves of this line, it housed Guy, the last descendant, buried in 1268. No trace of these graves remains today, although other tombstones, including one with a circular epitaph, are still visible.

The church is characterized by an apse arched in cul-de-four, adorned with a rare arching gallery and pierced with three bays in the middle of the hangar. Its bell tower, the only one that escaped the systematic destruction of the bell towers of the department of Ain in 1794, offers a unique testimony of local Romanesque architecture. The building, classified as a historic monument since 1840, is no longer devoted to worship.

Ranked among the first historical monuments of France, this church illustrates the role of local lords in the foundation of religious buildings in the Middle Ages. Its architecture, including the apse and stone bell tower, reflects the Romanesque techniques of the region. Although disused, it remains an emblematic heritage of Ain and Bresse, marked by its funerary history and exceptional partial conservation.

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