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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Geniès de Sarrazac, originally dedicated to Saint Genou (or Genolphus), the first bishop of Cahors, is mentioned as early as 823 in the cartular of the abbey of Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne. On that date, Count Rodulf (or Raoul) of Turenne and his wife Aiga de Périgord offered the Sarrazac estate, including his church, to their children who entered into religion: their son Rodulf (future archbishop of Bourges) and their daughter Emmena, a local abbess. Rodulf founded around 840 the monastery of Beaulieu, to which he bequeathed Sarrazac, although the parish was probably the responsibility of the bishop of Cahors. Count Raoul, buried in 842 in the church of Saint-Geniès of the monastery he established, thus marks his imprint on this place.

The oldest architectural elements, such as the walls of the nave and the span surmounted by an octagonal dome with leafed or smooth capitals, date back to the late 12th or early 13th century. These stylistic details are reminiscent of those of the Saint-Michel church of Saint-Michel-de-Bannières. In the 15th century, the building underwent major transformations: construction of polygonal abside, ivy vaults and third-line vaults, and probably addition of low-sides. The northern chapel, decorated with the arms of the Vieilleschiezes family (arrival to Sarrazac in the 15th century), dates from the end of this century or the beginning of the 16th century. It has painted panels and remains of a funerary liter from the 17th or 18th centuries.

Subsequent modifications include the west gate and sacristy, added in the 19th century, as well as a neo-Renaissance decoration on the vaults of the nave and stained glass by Louis Saint-Blancat (Toulouse, 1887). Ranked a historical monument in 1947, the church illustrates the architectural and artistic evolution of a Quercy religious building, marked by Romanesque, Gothic and modern influences. Its history also reflects the close links between secular power (Turenne County) and ecclesiastical power (Bishops of Cahors, local abbeys) during the Middle Ages.

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