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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame d'Airaines, located in the department of the Somme, was built around 1130 as an integral part of a clunisian priory founded the same year. This priory, dependent on Saint-Martin-des-Champs in Paris, illustrates the influence of the order of Cluny in Picardie. The church, in a transitional style between Romanesque and Gothic, is distinguished by its sober facade and its primitive dogive vaults, typical of this hinged period. It houses an 11th century Romanesque baptismal tank, classified in 1897, decorated with sculptures symbolizing scenes of temptation and catechesis.

In 1422, the priory was burned by the Bourguignons and rebuilt in the 16th century. The buildings, sold as national goods during the Revolution, were transformed into a farm. The church, for its part, was classified as early as 1840 on the first list of historical monuments, while the remains of the priory were protected in 1932. Today, the site retains remarkable elements such as a 13th century seigneurial chapel, with its funerary slabs and a 14th century wooden partition, classified in 1907.

The priory and his church bear witness to the religious and architectural history of the region. The nave, a dogive vault decorated with Cistercian capitals, houses a wooden statue of St.Antoine Ermite, classified in 1912. The restored 16th century Prioral Building now houses a cultural centre. These elements, combined with the baptismal tank and medieval tombstones, make it a major site of the Hauts-de-France heritage.

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