The Sainte-Marie-des-Chazes chapel is located in the town of Saint-Julien-des-Chazes, in Haute-Loire, 37 km west of Puy-en-Velay (by road).
Located on the edge of the course of the Allier, at the foot of basaltic cliffs, it was built in the 12th and 13th centuries to serve a priory dependent on the neighboring Benedictine abbey of Saint-Pierre-des-Chazes.
Representative of the Romanesque style of Auvergne, made up of a single barrel-vaulted nave extended by a cul-de-four apse, the chapel became a simple agricultural shed after the Revolution and was then acquired by the town in 1865. Between - for a long time, it has been classified as a Historic Monument. Despite consolidation work, a violent storm in 1904 caused significant damage: the porch, the bell tower and the gallery collapsed, and the rest of the building was severely shaken. The building will nevertheless be scrupulously rebuilt identically.
Only the old murals could not be saved (only reproductions remain). As for the statue of the Virgin in polychrome wood which was kept inside, it is now housed in the parish church of the village.
This masterpiece of Romanesque art and its astonishing natural environment in the Haut-Allier gorges are certainly worth a detour. Information on +33 4 71 74 04 88.
