Ancienne église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Meysse

About

The former church Saint-Jean-Baptiste is a Romanesque church decorated with frescoes, now disused, located in France in the commune of Meysse, in the department of Ardèche in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. She is a member of the European Federation of Clunisian Sites.

Location: The church is located in the commune of Meysse, in the French department of Ardèche, in the centre of the old village, in the street of the Old Church.

At the end of the 12th century the bishop of Viviers attributed the site to the Abbey of Cruas, which founded a priory there. The Wars of Religion severely damaged the building, which was restored in the 17th century. The creation of a new church at the beginning of the twentieth century led to the desecralization of Saint John the Baptist. This allowed important archaeological excavations in the years between 1979 and 1990.

Description: Archaeological excavations revealed in the apse the foundations of an immersion Baptistery of the Merovingian era, explaining its patronage. This provision is currently unique in the region. Its dating could be around the fifth and sixth centuries. He's a rare witness to the Christianization of...