Aime is located in the valley of the River Isère, a route linking this territory with the Aosta Valley (Italy) through the Little St Bernard Pass. On this site stands the church of Saint-Martin, which was the seat of a Benedictine priory.
The earliest remains identified on the site now occupied by the church belong to a Roman-period building, interpreted as a temple or basilica. It would have been a simple single-nave structure that, over time, was modified and enlarged. During the second half of the nineteenth century, excavations uncovered structures connected with ancient Axima, a settlement that developed thanks to the route leading towards the Aosta Valley. That construction eventually fell into ruin and was abandoned.
According to tradition, a primitive church was founded here in the time of Jacques of Tarentaise (or Jacques of Assyria), a figure from the East who is said to have accompanied Saint Honorat to the monastery of Lérins (Alpes-Maritimes). In 420 he moved to Tarentaise and is regarded as the first bishop of that diocese; venerated as a saint, he is associated with the foundation of that early chapel. In any case, by the sixth century a very modest church had already been built over the Roman remains.
Around 1019 a Benedictine priory was founded here, and the earlier building was extensively transformed. The new construction adopted a three-nave plan with three apses and a crypt, forming an architecturally ambitious complex. The house depended on the abbey of San Michele della Chiusa (Piedmont). Records mention priors from the fourteenth century until the Revolution. This does not necessarily imply the existence of a stable community or a resident monk at Saint-Martin; in its later period, the priory probably survived only as a titular benefice. After the Revolution, the site was secularised and sold.
From 1860 onwards, the remains were studied and published by Étienne-Louis Borrel, and the church was later restored. Today a notable Romanesque church survives. The building now has a single nave, owing to the loss of the side aisles and the blocking of the spaces between the former columns; nevertheless, the three apses and the crypt are preserved. Some interior walls retain mural paintings, and visible remains of the Roman structures can still be seen.
Chancel murals
Chancel murals
Crypt
Crypt
Crypt
Side apse
Roman structures
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- BESSE, J.-M.; i altres (1939). Abbayes et prieurés de l'ancienne France. Vol. 9: Province ecclésiastique de Vienne. Abbaye de Ligugé
- BORREL, Étienne-Louis (1884). Les monuments anciens de la Tarentaise (Savoie). París: Ducher
- DEBEAUVAIS, Pierre (1981). Saint-Martin-d'Aime. Chambéry: SSHA
- DESCHAMPS, Paul (1965). Les peintures murales de l'église Saint-Martin, à Aime. Congrès archéologique de France. 123 ss. Société française d'archéologie
- EMPRIN, J.-M. (1913). Le Prieuré de Saint-Martin à Aime. Notes historiques. Recueil des mémoires et documents de l'Académie de la Val d'Isère. Moutiers
- MORTAMET, J.-G. Savoie (1984). La restauration des couvertures de la basilique Saint-Martin d'Aimé. Bulletin Monumental, vol. 142
- TARDIEU, Joëlle (1983). Savoie. La basilique Saint-Martin d'Aimé. Bulletin Monumental, vol. 141
- VALLERY-RADOT, Jean (1965). L'église Saint-Martin, à Aime. Congrès archéologique de France. 123 ss. Société française d'archéologie
Aime lies in the Isère valley, between Moûtiers and Bourg-Saint-Maurice