Eglise Saint-Jean Baptiste de Fontaine
ChurchHidden Treasure
Eglise Saint-Jean Baptiste de Fontaine, located in Champagne-et-Fontaine (Dordogne), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Champagne-et-Fontaine, Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 45.4380, 0.3500
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00082465
A former priory church founded in the Périgord region as early as 1130, Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Fontaine combines a 12th-century Romanesque bell tower with Gothic vaults decorated with angels, fleur-de-lys coats of arms and corbels carved with devils.
History
Nestling in the village of Champagne-et-Fontaine, in the heart of the Périgord Vert region, the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Fontaine is one of those nuggets that you discover off the beaten track and that instantly rewards visitors' curiosity. A former priory church, it combines several centuries of religious history and craftsmanship in a single building, from the austere and powerful Romanesque to the flamboyant Gothic tinged with medieval symbolism. What makes Saint-Jean-Baptiste truly unique is the richness and singularity of its interior sculptural programme. The capitals of the Gothic pillars display a luxuriant array of plant life: supple foliage, vine leaves laden with bunches of grapes, as if nature itself had taken possession of the stones. But it is above all the end-papers that are most striking: two angels are depicted, one holding a phylactery bearing a sacred inscription, the other proudly displaying a coat of arms with three fleurs-de-lys and a besan, a discreet but eloquent sign of belonging to the noble and ecclesiastical world of the late Middle Ages. A visit to the church offers an additional surprise as soon as you approach the exterior: the corbels that run beneath the cornice are carved with fantastic creatures, skulls and grimacing devils, a veritable stone theatre in which the grating humour of the medieval stonemason dialogues with the solemnity of the house of God. This contrast between the luminous, sober interior and the demon-filled exterior is typical of Romanesque-Gothic art in Périgord. The 12th-century Romanesque bell tower, the oldest part of the building, imposes its square, robust silhouette over the surrounding hedged farmland. Built according to the canons of Romanesque architecture from Poitevin, it bears witness to the radiant influence of the Abbey of Fontevrault on this region, at the crossroads of the dioceses of Périgueux and Angoulême. The discreet, authentic setting offers heritage lovers an experience devoid of tourist gimmicks, in the peace and quiet of an unspoilt Périgord village.
Architecture
Saint-Jean-Baptiste church in Fontaine has a hybrid architecture, the result of two separate building campaigns almost three centuries apart. The twelfth-century Romanesque bell tower, the foundation stone, is built according to the classic pattern of tower belfries in the Poitevin-Saintonge area: a square base with carefully coursed rubble stone, geminated bays with colonnettes, and the sober ornamentation typical of rural Romanesque art. It gives the building its verticality and anchorage in the surrounding hedged farmland. The main body of the church, remodelled in the 15th century, adopts the late Gothic vocabulary typical of the Périgord region: ribbed vaults resting on pillars with sculpted capitals. These capitals are the highlight of the interior decoration, with their exquisite plant motifs - soft foliage, vine leaves and bunches of grapes - evoking local workshops influenced by the Gothic models of central-western France. The figurative capitals, depicting angels bearing symbolic attributes (a phylactery and a coat of arms with three fleurs-de-lys surmounting a besan), bear witness to an elaborate iconographic programme combining Marian devotion and heraldic references. On the exterior, the cornice level is particularly remarkable: the sculpted corbels display a fantastic and macabre bestiary - monstrous animals, skulls and grimacing devils - in keeping with a medieval tradition that entrusted the representation of the forces of evil driven out of the house of God to the margins of sacred architecture. This sculptural ensemble makes Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Fontaine an exceptional document of the Périgord medieval imagination.
Related Figures
Robert d'Arbrissel — fondateur de l'abbaye de Fontevrault (1101), dont dépendait le prieuré de FontaineAliénor d'Aquitaine — grande bienfaitrice de Fontevrault, nécropole des Plantagenêt, dont l'influence rayonna sur tous les prieurés du réseauLes prieure successives du prieuré de Fontaine — religieuses fontevristes qui administrèrent la communauté du XIIe au XVIIIe siècleUn donateur noble non identifié — dont le blason aux trois fleurs de lys et un besan est sculpté sur un cul-de-lampe, probablement bienfaiteur du chantier gothique du XVe siècle
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Eglise Saint-Jean Baptiste de Fontaine located?
Eglise Saint-Jean Baptiste de Fontaine is located in Champagne-et-Fontaine, Dordogne department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
When was Eglise Saint-Jean Baptiste de Fontaine built?
Eglise Saint-Jean Baptiste de Fontaine dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Eglise Saint-Jean Baptiste de Fontaine open to visitors?
Eglise Saint-Jean Baptiste de Fontaine is currently closed to visitors.
