In the hamlet of Narosse at the foot of the steep slopes of Mont-de-Sène, the church with its multiple-ribbed vaulted choir is one of the first churches of this type to be grafted onto a Romanesque structure.
History
Built starting in 1220 in the hamlet of Narosse, today Santenay-le-Haut, Saint-Jean de Narosse became a parish church around 1270. This church is built away from houses, hardly a normal location for a parish church. This place was probably chosen because it’s close to a spring with wonderful properties, the St-Eloi Fountain: mothers would bring their children with ringworm here to be cured. Around 1480, the choir and aisles were demolished, leaving room for a new choir joining the two side chapels dedicated on 7 October 1490. The parish church would close to worship in October 1892 after the construction of Our Lady of the Rosary in Santenay-de-Bas. Classified as a historical monument in January 1928, several restoration projects have helped restore its 15th-century appearance.
Description
he church portal shelters under a 15th-century capital support. The rounded tympanum is decorated with a trefoil surrounding a cross flory. Inside, the nave with its three spans, flanked by two aisles in late Romanesque style, overlooks a flat choir capping a bell tower. The furniture of the church was enriched during the Revolution with polychrome wooden statues of St Martin in the 15th century, and St Roch and the Virgin carved by the Chalon artist Bézullier in the 17th. The church is painted in frescoes. There still remains a representation of Saint Michel slaying a dragon in the left aisle. The church walls are adorned by a funeral litre punctuated by coats of arms (black band to accommodate the arms of the lords on their death as a sign of mourning). The last visible is that of Jacques Philibert Parigot, Marquis of Santenay, who died in 1783.
Events
Music in Saint-Jean:
A gathering in the heart of summer to discover the original strains of classical music repertoires. 7 August at 17.00: Hyprion Quartet Concert (with Pierre-Olivier Fernandez (composition and violin), Fanny Sauvin (violin), Antoine Carlier (viola) and Florent Mascret (cello)) 14 August at 17.00: Concert: Adelys Quartet – Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons" (with Julie Gehan Rodriguez, Gersende Mondani, Marie-Noëlle Bernascon and Claire Perrotton) )
