Saint Michel being on the road to Compostela, the monks aimed to come to the aid of poor pilgrims.
The church was completed in 1143 because a charter dated that year indicates that people came to take the oath on the altar of Saint-Michel.
Founded in 1137, in the marshes, by the Abbot Lambert, founder of the abbey of La Couronne, the Saint-Michel church was designed from the outset as a refuge church. Saint Michel being on the road to Compostela, the monks aimed to come to the aid of poor pilgrims.
The church was completed in 1143 because a charter dated that year indicates that people came to take the oath on the altar of Saint-Michel.
After the Hundred Years Wars, the ruined canons ceded Saint-Michel to the bishopric of Angoulême. It was during this period that it became the parish church, cure of Saint-Jean la Palud.
Probably following the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in the XNUMXth century, a century later, the vault of the church collapsed and was replaced by a frame at the expense of a parishioner, Dame Barreau de Girac.
The church was classified MH in 1841. Several repair campaigns follow one another and from 1848 to 1853, the architect Paul Abadie Fils intervenes.
The curious Campanile bell tower was built in 1898 by the local architect Laboisne, isolated from the rest of the building.
Saint-Michel has retained its original octagonal plan. This centered octagonal plan is exceptional and can be compared to those of Santa Maria de Eunate and Torres Del Rio in Spain, Saint-Clair d'Aiguilhe in Auvergne, the Saint-Sauveur chapel in Saint-Honorat-de-Lérins and closer to us at the Maison-Dieu in Montmorillon.
All around the octagon inscribed in a circle 13,60 meters in diameter radiate eight semicircular apsidioles, framed by columns.
Above the apsidioles vaulted in cul-de-four rises an octagonal drum at the corners of which are placed pilasters resting on columns. The whole is covered with a vault of warheads made up of eight radiating quarters. This imposing cupola necessitated the addition of powerful sloped buttresses on the outside.
The capitals of the columns framing the apsidioles are adorned with magnificent plant ornaments. The sculpture is rich and abundant. That of the western portal is particularly elegant, balanced and dynamic. Placed in the tympanum above the door, it represents Saint Michael slaying the dragon. The composition of the scene, recalling the name of the church dedicated to the Archangel, is the work of a great master.
Listed as a Historic Monument in 1841.
Open from 8:30 a.m. to 17 p.m. and until 18 p.m. in summer.
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