Listed as a historic monument, Église Saint-Martin dates back to the 12th century and illustrates the main features of Romanesque style. It has undergone several restorations which have revealed 14thcentury murals.
The Église Saint-Martin was built in the 12th century on a site that had been occupied for a long time, by an ancient 6th century monastery. It coexists with the Église Saint-Hilaire, destroyed in 1888. Some remains of the Église Saint-Hilaire can still be seen on Rue Saint-Hilaire. The presence of these two churches reminds us that Cournon used to be divided into two parishes each depending on a different lord: the first included the Église Saint-Martin and its cemetery, belonging to the Bishop of Clermont, and the second included the former Église Saint-Hilaire, under the authority of the secular lord.
The Église Saint-Martin illustrates the main characteristics of the Roman style, as does the Basilique Notre-Dame-du-Port in Clermont-Ferrand: use of light arkosic sandstone, barrel vaulting, presence outside and inside of semi-circular arches, choir surrounded by deambulatory with radiating chapels, and aisles surmounted by galleries to take the counter-thrust of the arches.
This church was restored several times in the 18th and 19th centuries: the bell tower was rebuilt, a chapel was built to the south and the western façade was altered by the architect Hugues Imbert (1802-1876), creator of the Église Saint-Eutrope in Clermont-Ferrand and the Église Saint-Martin in Ceyrat. The church has been listed as a historic monument since 1912. In 2003, a restoration programme highlighted, among other things, mural paintings from the 14th century and cherubs painted in the 17th and 18th centuries.
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