The Cluniac priory of Notre-Dame de Châtel-Montagne was probably founded in 1082, according to a document known only by references. According to this account, the site was given to the Abbey of Cluny (Saône-et-Loire) by Dalmace, although his brothers opposed the donation. The priory was established at that time or shortly afterwards. In 1095, it is mentioned in a bull issued by Pope Urban II in favour of the Burgundian abbey. Because the priory’s own archives have been lost, its history remains poorly known.
It was a modest house: in the first quarter of the 14th century, it depended on the female priory of Laveine (Puy-de-Dôme), and at that time its community consisted of only four monks. This dependency on Laveine is still attested in 1501 and continued until 1784. In addition to being the seat of the priory, the church of Notre-Dame de Châtel-Montagne also served as a parish church; it once had an altar dedicated to Saint Genest, but in the 18th century only the title of Notre-Dame was retained. After the Revolution, the church definitively regained its parochial functions.
The church, now serving solely as a parish church, is a large 12th-century building with three rather narrow naves and a chevet with an ambulatory opening onto four radial apsidioles. It has a scarcely prominent transept, covered by a dome surmounted by a square bell tower. On the west front stands a porch with a gallery. Construction probably began at the end of the 11th century, with a three-aisled church, transept, and three apses; in the 12th century the chevet was rebuilt and the porch added. Later, minor alterations were made, and the whole structure was restored in the 19th century.
Church floor plan
Published in L'église romane de Châtel-Montagne (1995)
- BEAUNIER, Dom (1912). Abbayes et prieurés de l'ancienne France. Vol. 5. Bourges. Abbaye de Ligugé
- CRAPLET, Bernard (1972). Auvergne romane. La nuit des temps, 2. Zodiaque
- LEFÈVRE-PONTALIS, Eugène (1905). L'Église de Châtel-Montagne (Allier). Bulletin monumental, vol. 69. Paris / Caen: Picard / Delesques
- MITTON, F. (1936). L’égise de Châtel-Montagne. Bulletin de la Société d'émulation du Bourbonnais, vol. 39. Moulins
- RAVAUX, Jean-Pierre (1991). L'église Notre-Dame de Châtel-Montagne. Congrès archéologique de France, 146 ss. Bourbonnais. Société Française d'Archéologie
- RAVAUX, Jean-Pierre; i altres (1995). L'église romane de Châtel-Montagne, dédiée à Notre-Dame. Charroux: Cahiers Bourbonnais
Châtel-Montagne lies in a remote area, away from major routes, between Vichy and Roanne