Eglise Saint-Cyr et Sainte-Julitte
ChurchHidden Treasure
At the heart of the Périgord, the église Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte d'Aubas blends Romanesque austerity and Gothic delicacy, with a portal featuring sculpted colonnettes and a wall belfry of rare campanile elegance.
History
Nestling in the peaceful village of Aubas in the Dordogne, the church of Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte is one of those discreet wonders of the Périgord region that you come across along the way, revealing centuries of history etched in stone. Dedicated to two early Christian martyrs - the young Cyr and his mother Julitte - it embodies the continuity of the rural faith in a region where every village has its own sacred building, like a treasure handed down from generation to generation. What immediately distinguishes this building is the superimposition of architectural grammars that can be read at a glance: the north gutter wall retains the austerity of twelfth-century Romanesque, while the south side chapel bears witness to the Gothic ambition of the fifteenth century. This coexistence is not the result of chance, but of history itself, which has reconfigured the church according to the needs of the community and the resources of local builders. The western portal, with its three pointed arches resting on slender columns with sculpted capitals, is a particularly striking feature. The masks adorning the archivolt add a touch of medieval strangeness, reminding us that Romanesque and early Gothic art liked to blend the sacred and the fantastic. Above, the bell tower-wall with its three semi-circular arched bays forms a slender silhouette, typical of Périgord religious architecture. The interior, though modest in size, is no less instructive. The long nave, covered by a modern ceiling, and the side chapel with its pointed barrel vault create a quiet space where time seems to stand still. A two-seater confessional carved into the northern masonry of the chapel bears witness to ancient liturgical customs and the practical inventiveness of local craftsmen. For lovers of medieval architecture, rural heritage and authentic Périgord, this listed church offers a valuable stop-off away from the tourist crowds. It is an ideal place to visit in combination with the architectural and natural riches of the Vézère valley, of which Aubas is a discreet but endearing satellite.
Architecture
The church of Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte has a simple, eloquent plan: a long nave - that is, wider than it is long according to the canons of small rural churches in the Périgord region - extended by a rectangular chancel. This sober layout reflects the needs of a modest village community, which was more concerned with liturgical efficiency than with architectural demonstration. The nave is now covered by a modern ceiling that partially conceals the original height of the triumphal arch separating the nave from the chancel, an unfortunate but common alteration in 19th-century rural buildings. The north gutter wall of the nave is the only clearly Romanesque element preserved in its elevation, characterised by the careful matching of the local limestone and the absence of any superfluous ornamentation. In contrast, the south side chapel, added in the 15th century, introduces the Gothic vocabulary with its pointed barrel vault and engaged columns at the corners, the remains of a project for rib vaulting that never came to fruition. A two-seater confessional, cut directly into the masonry of the north wall of this chapel, bears witness to the functional use of space typical of post-Tridentine liturgical furnishings. The west facade, rebuilt in the early 19th century, is dominated by a bell tower with three round-headed bays, a typical feature of south-western bell towers. The preserved portal is of fine medieval workmanship: three segmental-arched voussoirs resting on columns with capitals sculpted with plant and figurative motifs, with masks enlivening the outer archivolt. On the east chevet, the bell tower, installed in 1877, replaces a wall-belfry with curvilinear ramps, whose original shape, pierced by two bays, was characteristic of 15th and 16th century Périgord buildings.
Related Figures
Saints Cyr et Julitte — martyrs chrétiens du IVe siècle, patrons de l'église, dont le culte est répandu dans tout le Sud-Ouest de la FranceMaçons et tailleurs de pierre périgourdins du XIIe siècle — bâtisseurs anonymes de la nef romane originelleArtisans gothiques du XVe siècle — auteurs de la chapelle latérale et du portail sculptéEntrepreneurs locaux du XIXe siècle — responsables de la reconstruction de la façade occidentale vers 1800-1820Architecte ou maçon de 1877 — concepteur du clocheton de chevet remplaçant l'ancien clocher-mur
