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Origin and history

St. Stephen's Church in Blomac is a Romanesque religious building built in the 11th and 12th centuries and later modified in the 13th century. It is located in the department of Aude, in the Occitanie region. Its architecture combines elements typical of the Lombard Romanesque style, including a single apse bedside decorated with lumbar bands and grouped archatures. The apse, made of brown stone, is pierced by three single-brassed windows, while the bell tower takes the shape of a bell tower-wall overlooking the western facade. The exterior complex was listed as historical monuments in 1948.

The interior reveals an evolutionary structure: a semicircular apse (XI or early XIIth century), a vaulted choir (XIIth century) flanked by transversal cradle chapels (late XIIth-early XIIIth), and a four-span nave without vaults. The front door, originally to the north, was moved in 1891 on the last span. Absidial windows, later enlarged, retain traces of their original double Lombard arches.

The church was under the collation of the bishop of Carcassonne and was mentioned as early as 1251 in the archives. Its exterior architecture, supported by foothills, includes a sober southern facade, marked by the republican inscription "Freedom Equality Fraternity". The Lombar decoration, characteristic of the southern novel, distinguishes this monument from neighbouring churches like Saint-Martin d'Escales or Saint-Saturnin de Puzols-Minervois.

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