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, larger than thatone of St. Font in Perigueux. This dome was destroyed during the Hundred Years War and got rebuilt and collapsed again in 1787. Obviously the material was too heavy, as it collapsed again in 1860. Since then the church has the roof seen today.

The apse once had three chapes, but only the two seen from this point, survived the times.