LA COMBE DE SAVOIE – Site 14b

Chamoux‐sur‐Gelon

The church of Saint‐Martin‐de‐Chamoux, which is recorded as having existed since the twelfth century, has kept the foundations of its Romanesque steeple. The church was rebuilt between 1696 and 1699 in the spirit of the Counter‐Reform, and it was decorated with ornate stucco work both inside and on the facade.
Around 1850, it was fitted with three Baroque reredos and decorated with frescoes. Its seventeenthcentury mason and its nineteenth‐century sculptors and painters all originated from the valley of the Valsesia (at the foot of Monte Rosa in Piedmont). A variety of objects dating from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century have been preserved, including a high Calvary from the sixteenth century and a pulpit attributed to royal architect Cuenot. Some have recently become listed monuments.
The foundation of the priory by the monks of Cluny predated the thirteenth century. Known for their hospitality and their hard work in clearing the land, the monks also built the churches of the parish centres. By the fifteenth century, however, the priory was merely an institution in charge of the parish service, and the cloister which linked it to the church was ruined after the flooding caused by the Nant of Montendry in 1428 and 1429, which was accompanied by a mud slide, which damaged the whole village.