Saint Austremoine Church

Saint-Austremoine is a beautiful Romanesque Auvergne church, built in the 12th century on the site of an ancient building, possibly Merovingian.
Inside, the polychrome decoration, revived in the 19th century, is remarkable. The columns feature a series of sculpted capitals inspired by those of the Romanesque abbey church of Saint-Austremoine(…)

Saint-Austremoine is a beautiful Romanesque Auvergne church, built in the 12th century on the site of an ancient building, possibly Merovingian.
Inside, the polychrome decoration, revived in the 19th century, is remarkable. The columns feature a series of sculpted capitals inspired by those of the Romanesque abbey church of Saint-Austremoine in Issoire.

Unlike many Christian churches, the building is not oriented east-west, but north-east-south-west.

To the south-west, an imposing closed bell tower-porch provides access to the building. This is followed by a four-bay nave, ending in a hemispherical choir apse. The nave is flanked by two side aisles. The aisles and choir are lower than the nave. A rectangular sacristy adjoins the choir to the northeast.

Three objects in the church are listed as historic monuments: an 18th-century altarpiece in a chapel, a 15th-century wooden statue of the first bishop of the Arvernes, Saint Austremoine, and a 16th-century stone statue of the Virgin of Pity.

Numerous paintings and statues complete the decor.