The religious heritage
Churches, oratories, chapels… Our territory has numerous admirably preserved buildings.
Apart from the abbatial churches Saint-Pierre of Uzerche, Saint-Pierre of Vigeois and the church of Orgnac-sur-Vézère, the religious heritage of the Pays d’Uzerche has been well preserved over the centuries.
The Saint-Julien church of Brioude in Condat sur Ganaveix was built for its oldest parts at the end of the 12th century. The portal show a beautiful multilobed archivolt. Inside you can find the three sculpted altarpieces (keys available at the town hall).
The Sainte-Catherine church of Masseret. It has a Limousin portal with sculpted archivolt in pink granite. In the choir, a Renaissance-style niche in which you ca find a enamelled shrine of Sainte Valérie. Lovely 13th century room that shows the world-renowned Limousin enamel work.
Walk inside the Saint-Yrieix church of Meilhards, built in the 14th and 15th centuries and you will discover the Marquis Philippe de Meilhards tombstone, Louis XIV marshal. In the choir, an altarpiece, work of Antoine Cruveilher. This renovation revelled new red and ochre frescoes.
The Sainte-Radegonde chapel of Meilhards was built near the pagan fountain Sainte-Radegonde, known to be miraculous.
The Saint-Sicaire church of Perpezac le Noir shows us the typical stained glass work in Limousin through the works by the Atelier du Vitrail (stained glass workshop) of Limoges.
Consult the documentation “Laissez-vous conter l’église de Perpezac le Noir” by the Land of Art and History Vézère Ardoise.
Inside the church dedicated to Saint-Eparche in Saint-Ybard, built during the 13th century, there is a baroque choir. The church was rebuilt after the collapse of the nave stone vault in 1618. The bell tower was rebuilt in 1894.
The Saint-Roch chapel in Saint-Ybard and its miraculous fountain.
During the 17th century, the municipality was under the Saint-Roch protection to fight against the plague epidemic.
Near the abbatial church Saint Pierre of Uzerche, the chapel Notre-Dame, which was one of the two parish churches.
The other was the Saint-Nicolas church, located on the site of the current town hall, and destroyed during the French Revolution.
Still in Uzerche, but this time of the right bank, the Sainte-Eulalie church, in the eponymous quarter. Sainte-Eulalie was a full municipality at this time and depended on the Bas-Limousin. Those two municipalities merged in 1826.
On the Saint-Jacques path in Uzerche, you can also see:
- the cross of the Saint Jacquiers, on the rue de la Teulade;
- the sculpted shell on a door in the rue de la justice;
- the shell-shape modillion on the Saint-Pierre abbatial church.