Église et tour funéraire de Saint-Restitut

Saint-Restitut

The village of Saint-Restitut, in the Drôme provençale, keeps one of the most classical Romanesque ensembles in Provence: a 12th-century church joined to an older so-called funerary tower of the 10th–11th centuries. The south porch, with its fluted columns, acanthus-leaf capitals, friezes of palmettes and Greek-key patterns, pushes the imitation of antiquity to the point of trompe-l'œil; the building appears on the first list of historic monuments, that of 1840. The tower carries on its four faces a carved frieze of more than thirty metres whose guiding thread is the Apocalypse of John, a rare programme that appears at the end of the 11th century, at the precise moment when devotion to the saint was growing. For the tower is reputed to hold the relics of Saint Restitut, held to be the first bishop of the Tricastin. A 15th-century vita identifies him with Sidonius of Aix, that is, with the man born blind in the Gospel, healed by Christ at the pool of Siloam, who came to evangelise Provence in the wake of Mary Magdalene. History knows of no bishops in the region before the 4th century: the legend is thus a late construction, but it was enough to make the place a goal of pilgrimage and to pay for the tower's extraordinary decoration. The village still lives from the white stone of the Midi quarried in its underground quarries close by.

Carte du patrimoine de la Drôme - Église de Saint-Restitut ↗

Getting there : In the centre of the hilltop village of Saint-Restitut (26130), 5 km from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux and 8 km from Bollène, in the Drôme provençale. Parking at the bottom of the village, access on foot through the lanes. The coordinates correspond to the heart of the village: accuracy is that of the village itself, and the church occupies its highest point, impossible to miss. Exterior visible at all times, interior open according to the commune's opening hours.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound