Churches and religious buildings

THE ROMAN  ART

Roman art is the most represented art in western Europe, symbol of a new world, healed of the sufferings from the barbarian invasions, defying time and stones.

What strike us today, not only in Lévezou but also all over Europe, is the austerity of these churches where light and shadow play together, and sculpted biblical scenes appease the visitor. 

This biblical teaching is found in many architectural assets :

-          the capitals (vegetable settings, biblical characters, critics of the misfortune of the period, local traditions),

-          the tympanum gates with themes like Doomsday, the Apocalypse, the Ascension,

-          the wall paintings, more colouful, who were replaced during the gothic period by stained glass windows.

The roman Church symbolizes God, and keeps a human scale, through the sobriety of its architecture. Besides being a place of cult, the Church was also a shelter, a vault, a warehouse, an attic or even a stockroom for relics. People would come from far to worship the Saints relics kept in a reliquary, such as in Conques and the relics of Sainte Foix.

THE GOTHIC ART

Gothic churches benefit from better techniques, and are built higher with bigger windows. The tall gothic towers are symbols of the soul's exalatation and reflect the spiritual model (God is Light).

Second art of Western Europe, the gothic style is caracterized by the shape of the windows, tall and slender buildings, sharp and pointed arrows, a very developed transept, numerous and colourful glass-windows representing staging of the Bible, and statues on the external wall's columns.

There are four periods related to the gothic style :

-          the transition gothic, right after the roman period (1130-1230)

-          the basic gothic, replicating the model of Chartres (XIIIth century)

-          the radiant gothic (XIVth century)

-          the flamboyant gothic (XVth century)

The Bonnecombe Abbey (township of Comps la Grandville)

• Guided tours in July and august everyday at 4pm.
• During the rest of the year, and for groups, please call beforehand for booking.
• Open all year round

• Tour of the big dining hall: exhibition : history of the abbey and the cisterian sites.
• Tour of the abbey church, the crypt and the cellar.
• Liturgical shows.
Free entrance, donations welcome.
Tel. +33 (0)5 65 74 15 21
Fax +33 (0)5 65 74 18 64

The large entrance gate opens on the old Bonnecombe abbey and its set of restored buildings, a cloister, a church, gardens...
In the middle of the 12th century, the cenobites settled in Bonnecombe in order to detach themselves from the outside world, to lead a life of self-sacrifice. Bonnecombe, situated deep in the Gorge du Viaur, in the forest of Lafon, was the ideal place for retreat, and this cloistered order received many donations as well as the protection from the Bishop of Rodez.

The place became a cistercian monastery consecratedin 1167 thanks to the Priest Gausbert of the Abbey of Candeil in Albigeois. The Abbey was closed in 1792 and its estate sold by the government.
The Bishop of Rodez bought the buildings back in 1876 from the Mines de Carmaux company, and gave it to the cistercian monks of Aiguebelle. These monks started the restoration of the site and the church, consecrated in 1891.

The Abbey was home to Trappist monks, then Orthodox monks in 1965 who left 3 years later. From 1968 to 1980, a rehabilitation center was installed in the Abbey. In 1980, ten members of the "communauté de l'Arche" settled there, and three years later, eighty additional members had joined them.

Nowadays, the members of the "communauté des Béatitudes" live in the Abbey, working towards its renovation.

The Priory Church of Comberoumal (Saint Beauzély township)

This priory church was built at the end of the 12th century, following the Grand-Mont Order rules. The church has no bell tower, but a unique nave where the light is provided by four roman windows in the semi-circular chancel.
The structure also includes a cloister, a square chapter house with a roman archway, a common room and a dormitory.
Each year, in August, the priory church hosts a concert during the Festival of Sacred Music of Sylvanès.

Road tours : the churches in Lévézou and Eastern Ségala

Discover many other buildings in our tailored road tours:

> Road tour "Roman and gothic churches"