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Notre-Dame du Mont Chapel
Description
Located on a beautiful site of the Breilloise olive grove, the chapel incorporates Romanesque apses, Gothic portals and a Baroque bell tower around its three Romanesque naves with baroque decorations.
The attic of the chapel is home to bats in summer, protected by the Natura 2000 programme and the Mercantour National Park.
The Madonna of the Mount has a basilical plan with a central nave and two collaterals. Three apses in the cul de four extend the three naves. The structure of the main nave is supported by high walls above the arcades that separate it from the collateral. This nave is illuminated by side bays in the upper part. The collaterals, lower, are covered with "shed" frames. They are illuminated by oculus at the top of each facade. The side bell tower rebuilt in the early seventeenth century, is partly located in the south apsidiol which remains partially legible inside.
A semicircular vaulted porch was built west of the central nave in the early 17th century. It was raised by the creation of a small dwelling around 1830. A masonry cistern of the same period adjoins it to the north. A semi-elliptical forecourt is located at the front of the side gate, north of the building.
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Price(s)
Free of charge.
Updated by
Office de Tourisme Menton, Riviera & Merveilles - 26/10/2024
www.menton-riviera-merveilles.fr/boutique/
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Email : breil-tourisme@menton-riviera-merveilles.fr
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History, culture and heritage
Oral tradition reports, as do certain documents kept at the bishopric of Ventimiglia, that it was once the parish church of the first village. On the subject of its dating, Pierre Bodard, relying on Professor Thirion's observations about the capitals of the Madonna Del Poggio in Saorge, writes: "... those of the Mont appear to be a replica, the construction of the arches can only be dated to the 13th century, which would mark a first (?) transformation of the building, attested elsewhere. The differences in the technique and material of the capitals would suggest two construction campaigns.
The central apse flanked by its two apsidioles of the building enlarged and raised between 1571 and 1585 is noteworthy. The clumsy intervention of "voluntary restorers" in 1964 brought to light the traces of this development in its structure, but unfortunately also caused the destruction of the wall frescoes by Agostino Reibaudi, an artist from Triora. A solemn high mass is celebrated here once a year on the day after the feast of the Assumption.
The old entrance to this chapel, with its west-facing porch, was abandoned for an unknown reason. The present entrance was most likely opened when the bell tower was built at the end of the 16th century.
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