Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Saint-Maurice church of Saint-Maurice-de-Beynost, of Romanesque origin, is attested from the beginning of the twelfth century. Its initial structure includes a single nave and an apse. The first modifications took place at the end of the 15th century with the addition of a northern chapel dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, followed in the 16th century by a southern chapel dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-Pitié. These additions, although suggesting a transept, do not form one.

In the 17th century, the span between the two chapels was rebuilt, and repairs were carried out on the entrance door and porch in 1783 and 1789. The bell tower, initially in poor condition, was completely rebuilt during the first half of the 19th century. In 1968, a slight renovation of the abside was carried out. The church, surrounded until 1875 by the old cemetery, still preserves the tombstone of the parish priest Chardon (died 1871), as well as a statue pedestal of the Virgin stolen in 1988.

The building, built mostly in pebbles arranged in opus spicatum, houses partially classified furniture, including a bust-reliquary of Saint Francis-Regis, a Virgin of Pitié, and a 19th century painting depicting Saint Maurice on horseback. Outside, a sundial adorns the south wall of the abside, while two mission crosses (1850) and the monument to the dead, moved in the 2010s, recall its anchoring in local life. Today, the church is used only on rare occasions, the Catholic cult being held mainly in the Church of Our Lady, built in the 1970s.

Architecturally, the church is characterized by its lack of transept despite its two lateral chapels. The bell tower, square and without arrow, dominates the whole. Two small buildings surround the abside: a sacristy to the south and a boiler room to the north. The old washhouse, located opposite the square, and the remains of the cemetery recall its central role in the community until the 19th century.

External links