This unique ensemble in France is the baroque gem from Castelnaudary. Located at the foot of the Saint-Michel collegiate church, the old medieval castle and the presidial, Notre-Dame-de-Pitié chapel was built in the XNUMXth century outside the city walls.
At the origin of this monument, the legend mixes with historical facts. Tradition tells us that at an indeterminate time, a statuette of the Virgin was reportedly discovered on a pile of rubble, outside the city walls. The Notre-Dame-de-Pitié chapel should therefore have been built to house this statuette and to repair the desecration it had suffered.
A well kept secret
The mystery surrounding the Notre-Dame-de-Pitié Chapel and his unique decor only reinforces the interest of this exceptional monument.
After numerous hypotheses concerning the erection of the building, it seems, based on information provided by the consular deliberation registers of Castelnaudary, that the construction of the monument can be dated to the XNUMXth century.
Conclusion to, for its part, dates from the XNUMXth century, a time when the walls of the chapel would have been covered with paneling, itself surmounted by around ten paintings whose characters, sculpted in bas-relief, evoke disorderly scenes of the Passion of Christ. The surprising fact that the decor does not follow the chronological order of the scenes seems to be able to be explained by a thematic and/or stylistic choice, since the work of three masters different was identified in this set. The Baroque altarpiece, made in red marble from Caunes Minervois, does not bear a signature either and to date we are not aware of any mention of a sponsor for this exceptional decorative program.
All of this gilded wood panels represent, with the altarpiece of the chapel, a treasure which has discreetly crossed the centuries, preserved by the inhabitants of the Saint-Antoine district where the chapel is located. In fact, having become national good during the French Revolution, the building was bought in 1796 by 30 residents of the neighborhood in order to avoid the destruction of this place of worship, thus preserving the decor from certain dismantling. The chapel remained insurance, but still used for worship, until 1972 and the Virgin of Mercy in gilded and polychrome wood dated from the XNUMXth century, the paneling and the altarpiece are classified as Historic Monuments since 1911.
Where is the Chapel located?
Heart stroke
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