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Origin and history

The church of St Peter of Carennac, located in the Lot in Occitanie, finds its origins in a first mention in 932 when Frotard, Viscount of Cahors, and his wife Adalberg offer to the abbey of Beaulieu a church dedicated to St Saturnin. No vestige of this primitive building remains, if it is perhaps a slab of chancel preserved at Castelnau-Bretenoux castle. In the 11th century, the church passed under the control of the bishop of Cahors, Bernard III of Castelnau, then was ceded to Cluny in 1047-1048, marking the beginning of his growth as Benedictine priory.

Between 1090 and 1110, the construction of the present church began, financed by the enrichment of the priory thanks to donations extended to Auvergne and Limousin. A papal bubble of 1175 confirmed its importance, and in 1295 Carennac became one of Cluny's thirteen major deanmen. The choir was redesigned in the 13th century, while a carved porch, added around 1150, showed its prosperity. The Hundred Years' War however ravaged the site: in 1360, the priory was declared deserta, its conventual buildings ruined by the English troops.

The rebirth of the priory began in 1478 under the impetus of Dean Jean Dubrueilh, who rebuilt the cloister (mixing Romanesque and Gothic styles) and revived the monastery. His successors, such as Alain de Ferrières (1529-1554), added Renaissance chapels and strengthened the site in the face of the Wars of Religion. The 17th century saw the decline accelerated: despite the presence of Fénelon as dean (1674), the buildings deteriorated. Deleted in 1787, the priory was sold as a national good in 1791. Only the church, classified in 1893, and its cloister (1914) escaped destruction.

Among the treasures preserved, a mural painting from the 15th to the 16th century, discovered in 1977, illustrates the saying of the three dead and the three alive, moral reminder on the vanity of wealth. The cloister, partially Romanesque, and the northern chapels, decorated with frescoes, now bear witness to this prestigious past. The convent buildings, transformed into agricultural premises after the Revolution, lost part of their decor, like a 15th century fireplace sold in 1881 to the Abbey of Loc-Dieu (Aveyron).

The architecture of the church combines a vaulted Romanesque nave in the middle, supported by cylindrical pillars, and a massive bell tower. The tympanum of the porch, carved with interlaced motifs and palmettes, dates from around 1150. The cloister, adjacent to the southern collateral, combines Romanesque arcades (northern gallery) and Gothic warheads, while a Renaissance staircase serves the old upper galleries. These elements, despite the degradation suffered, make it a remarkable example of medieval monastic art in Quercy.

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