Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Priory of Meillerie, founded around 1130 by Boson d'Allinges, Boson and Gaudemard de Lugrin with the agreement of Count Amédée de Maurienne, was a fortified priory occupied by regular canons of St Augustine. As early as the 12th century, it housed a church and a convent building, becoming an active religious centre linked to the abbeys of Abondance and Saint-Ours d'Aosta. Its importance grew in the 13th century when the Counts of Savoy and the Sisters of Faucigny gave him rights of justice over Meillerie, Lugrin and Thollon, resulting in the construction of a new monastery.

In the Middle Ages, Meillerie became the administrative seat of the provost of the Grand-Saint-Bernard, with an extensive seigneury including prisons and forks. Conflicts with Evian, especially with regard to territorial boundaries and jurisdictional rights, marked his history: in 1314, inhabitants of Evian looted a chalet d ́alpage of the priory, triggering condemnations and confirmations of seigneurial rights. Despite these tensions, the priory prospered until the 15th century, before declining with the beginning of the Grand-Saint-Bernard and the wars (Valaisans, Genevois, French) that damaged the buildings.

The French Revolution accelerated its decline: the tower, used as a prison and torture room, barely escaped destruction in 1794 thanks to its usefulness for lake navigation. In the 19th century, the church was enlarged by a nave to accommodate parishioners, while the tower, transformed into a bell tower, lost its defensive functions. Today, the building combines a 13th-century Gothic choir (dogive vaults, lobed rosacea) and a modern nave, reflecting its evolution from the fortified priory to the parish church.

The tower-clocher, the defensive heart of the priory, illustrates this duality: built in tuf and belloons with archères and hurdles, it served as a prison, cellar and archives room. In the 18th century, it was vaulted and equipped with a stone staircase, before being surmounted by a belfry in the 19th century. The partially destroyed convent houses once housed an aula magna, rooms, kitchen and cellars dedicated to the production of cheese and wine. The present vestiges (east wing, sacristy) recall its role as seigneury and religious center.

The present church, originally dedicated to the Virgin before being placed under the patronage of Saint Bernard de Menthon, retains remarkable elements: an 18th century painting depicting Saint Bernard chaining the devil, stained glass windows dedicated to Saint Augustine and Saint Bernard d'Aosta, and painted arch keys (Christ stigmatized, Paschal Lamb). These artistic details, combined with its turbulent history, make it an emblematic monument of Haute-Savoie, classified since 1990 and protected in its entirety since 2015.

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