The church of Croisances
Croisances is a very small village (around 50 inhabitants) in the département of Haute-Loire (Auvergne, central France).
I photographed that church recently for the Fondation pour la Sauvegarde de l’Art Français.
The church, dedicated to Notre-Dame of the True Cross, is overlarge for such a small village, and too well built. It is generally dated from the 13th century, but some signs, including its unusual tetragonal apse, lead me to believe it could be at least 100 years older.
The western part of the nave was truncated for some reason, and the back of the church closed with a windowless wall. The side reinforcement with the narrow stairway appears to have been built at the same time as the main church, and probably lead to another kind of bell tower that is now completely gone. The present arrangement of the bells is more recent.
There are some very nice modillons and the apparel is of good quality, but the inside has been terribly remodeled and I will not show it here!
The stairs leading to the bells.
These will be my last uploads for a while, as we are leaving tomorrow morning for a three–week trip through Italy: Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Marche, Abruzzi, in search of nice landscapes, all things Mediæval and all sorts of local pasta that are worth testing (and they all are).
Internet connectivity should happen every day, though, so I will remain in touch with my groups and I will be able to read messages and answer any queries.
See you all in October, and have a great time in between!
The church of Croisances
Croisances is a very small village (around 50 inhabitants) in the département of Haute-Loire (Auvergne, central France).
I photographed that church recently for the Fondation pour la Sauvegarde de l’Art Français.
The church, dedicated to Notre-Dame of the True Cross, is overlarge for such a small village, and too well built. It is generally dated from the 13th century, but some signs, including its unusual tetragonal apse, lead me to believe it could be at least 100 years older.
The western part of the nave was truncated for some reason, and the back of the church closed with a windowless wall. The side reinforcement with the narrow stairway appears to have been built at the same time as the main church, and probably lead to another kind of bell tower that is now completely gone. The present arrangement of the bells is more recent.
There are some very nice modillons and the apparel is of good quality, but the inside has been terribly remodeled and I will not show it here!
The stairs leading to the bells.
These will be my last uploads for a while, as we are leaving tomorrow morning for a three–week trip through Italy: Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Marche, Abruzzi, in search of nice landscapes, all things Mediæval and all sorts of local pasta that are worth testing (and they all are).
Internet connectivity should happen every day, though, so I will remain in touch with my groups and I will be able to read messages and answer any queries.
See you all in October, and have a great time in between!