Carennac - Saint-Pierre

Carennac is a very picturesque village perching above the banks of the Dordogne river. The village is one of "Les Plus Beaux Villages de Franc". Not much seems to have changed within the last centuries.

In 1047 a priory had been founded here, depending from the Benedictine abbey Saint-Pierre in Moissac and so woven into the "cluniac system". Saint-Pierre, now the parish church of Carennac, was erected within the 11th/12th century.

Standing in the nave next morning, facing east to the choir. Sunlight floods in through the large choir-window, but in the nave it is pretty dark, as there are no clearstories.

The capitals in the nave as well as in the narthex are carved in a pretty rough style, compared to the masterly carved tympanum of Sanit-Pierre. The carvings here may be a century (or less older) than the tympanum.