Saint-Jean-de-Côle - Saint-Jean-Baptiste

Today Saint-Jean-de-Côle, a member of "Les Plus Beaux Villages de France" ("most beautiful villages of France"), has a population of only about 300.

A priory was founded here (on Norman foundations) and the construction of the church started in 1086.

The church, completed in the 12th century, has a very unusual plan (sometimes called "Byzantine"). There is a semicircular apse and a rectangular nave, that once was crowned by a dome. This dome was destroyed during the Hundred Years War and got rebuilt and collapsed twice later. It does not exist any longer.

All around the chapels are more than 80 sculpted corbels.
A very flexible exhibitionist!