Church of St. Bon

This massive church was extended in the 17th century based on the Romanesque design of the previous building: its chancel was given a flat floor and the bell tower was enclosed in another, larger one. The interior decoration has some beautiful Baroque surprises in store.

Make sure you see the altarpiece devoted to the Souls in Purgatory, in the left-hand nave, undeniably the most original in this church! Its composition and decoration display two themes: the universal nature of death and the value of mass to save the souls of the departed. Two twisted columns wreathed in vine branches flank an ensemble - half-painting, half-bas-relief - representing a priest at the moment of elevation (the ritual raising of the consecrated host, representing the body of Christ for Catholics) with, at the base, crossed tibias topped with heads wearing mitres, tiaras and other crowns. In 1689, Jean-Marie Molino sculpted the altarpiece of the Rosary, with the Fifteen Mysteries - the major events in the life of the Virgin and of Christ - represented as a rose bush. At its centre is a statue of the Madonna and Child in gilded wood. In the upper section stand St. Roch and St. Sébastien, whose help was sought against the plague. Cariatid angels and composite columns flank the central picture of the main altarpiece, realised by the same master sculptor: the Virgin is welcomed into Heaven by the Trinity. Below, the painting shows St. Bon and St. Michael.