The most beautiful churches cathedrals basilicas and chapels Aquitaine

The chapel is located at the end of a rocky spur overlooking the Dordogne, materializes the memory of a legendary prodigy attributed to Saint Front, apostle of Perigord, who slayed a terrible dragon, the Coulobre, which ravaged the region. It would date from the 12th century, on a building of the 7th century and would have been built on a former pagan place of worship. The chapel has two entrances, the one on the side is surmounted by a small human head. The baptismal font was originally located outside under a shelter, the baptism having to precede the first entrance to the church. Two remarkable capitals frame the entrance to the choir, one of them presents the temptation to Paradise: a snake embraces a tree laden with fruit and presents an apple to Eve, Saint Front seems to be observing the scene. The other capital, on the north side, is located at the top of a remnant of a column and shows three monstrous beasts. The central one has the face of a human represented with a double tail and limbs in the shape of animal legs. This column would be likely to represent three leopards, symbols of English domination. According to tradition, a large snake skin remained for a very long time on the wall of the nave in memory of the dragon defeated by Saint Front. This evocation is also found in the name of the Trou du Coulobre, a cave located under the chapel, which symbolizes the dragon's lair. Saint Front, patron saint of the diocese of Périgueux, is said to be a native of nearby Lanquais.

It is in vain that you would look for it in Mendionde, because it is located in the district, formerly known as Lekhorne, which is far enough from the village to confuse the visitor... This church dates from the 15th century and is surrounded by a wall containing the village cemetery with its numerous steles, cruciform and discoidal. On the outside, the church has a single nave topped by a gabled bell tower, in the style of the Labourd religious architecture. Inside, around the nave, it is three levels of galleries; vault painted with frescoes, altarpiece dedicated to Saint-Cyprian...

The fourteenth-century Gothic church, abandoned during the Revolution, was replaced by this new building, the construction of which began in 1859. The trend was neo-Gothic and the church of St. Vincent is of this time with, however, a technical innovation of avant-garde for its time: the use of cast iron for the supports of the wooden galleries. On the outside, on a Latin cross plan, nave flanked by two aisles; pentagonal chevet framed by two sacristies; square bell tower-porch, surmounted by a spire completed in 1869; perron and exterior stairs.