Church of Saint Genest
The Saint-Genest church is located in Oradour-Saint-Genest, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Founded in the eleventh century, it was upgraded in the twelfth century. It is one of the oldest churches in the region. The building has a single, ornate nave lit by simple bays and a Romanesque choir with a flat chevet. There are three altarpieces from the 17th century and a "lantern of the dead" from the 12th century in the cemetery.
About this building
The Saint-Genest church is located in Oradour-Saint-Genest, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Founded in the eleventh century, it was upgraded in the twelfth century. It is one of the oldest churches in the region. Two chapels were originally mentioned in 15th century documents: the chapel of Saint-Martial and the chapel of Sainte Catherine. The chapel of Saint-Martial was attached to the church, but it fell into ruins and wasit is destroyed in 1756. The Sainte-Catherine chapel, founded in 1453 by Jean and Ramonet Seichaud, lords of the Perrière may have been inside the present church as its structure is not found outside of the building. A presbytery was erected beside it in the 17th century.
The building has a single, ornate nave lit by simple windows that correspond to other early eleventh-century structures. The choir has a flat chevet and a cut stone apparatus , typical of the Romanesque style of the 13th century. Following their destruction during a storm, the bell tower and the west facade were rebuilt in the eighteenth century by architects and local masons. The steeple bell tower is also called double bell tower because it consists of a four-sided bell tower surmounted at mid-height by an octagonal spire. Painted paneling is also installed on the vault of the nave and in 1861 a new bell is installed. There are three 17th-century altarpieces and a 12th-century ‘lantern of the dead’, located 200m from the church, in the cemetery. It is classified under the ‘Monuments Historiques’.
