ABBEY CHURCH OF MOUTIER D'AHUN
A beautiful church, between Romanesque construction and Gothic architecture, with a superb portal and remarkable sculptures.
Dating from the 12th century, the church, partly destroyed during the Hundred Years' War, was raised from its ruins at the end of the 17th century. It combines Romanesque construction (the square of the transept, the choir) and Gothic architecture, including a superb 15th century granite portal. A garden occupies the site of the nave and its aisles. There is a Gallo-Roman bollard on which, according to the legend, Saint Martial would have been linked to castigate him during his visit to Ahun. But the remarkable element is the set of woodwork giving life to animals or fantastic characters, and executed from 1673 by Simon Bouer, a sculptor from Auvergne. The sculpture is exuberant and full of imagination. The choir's enclosure grid is surmounted by two Christ figures fixed to the same cross, one facing east, the other (crowned) facing west. In the middle of the choir is a beautiful lectern consisting of a column with an octagonal base and two lions leaning against it, apparently made in the same oak room. In the sacristy, notice two polychrome wooden statues, reliquaries, a wooden cross from the 14th or 15th century and another in boxwood from the 17th century.