www.jurachurches.net
églises jurassiennes

Back to main page

home
e-mail

The churches:
Baume l'abbaye
Baume l'église
Blye
Champagnole
Charcier
Charezier
Châtelneuf
Chatillon
Chevrotaine
Collondon
Crotenay
Doucier
Fontenu
le Frasnois
Lieffenan
Lons le Saunier
Loulle
Marigny
Menetrux
Monnet-la-Ville
Mont-sur-Monnet
Pont de Poitte
Saffloz
St-Sorlin
Songeson
le Vaudioux
Vertamboz
Vevry
Villiard-sur-l'Ain

bibliography
links
maps

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk
www.simonknott.co.uk

En partenariat avec amazon.fr

 
 
  Crotenay
Saint-Pierre (St Peter)
 

The core is an old church, perhaps, but pretty much a total rebuild.

St Peter in the rain. St Peter from the village square. Dedicatory inscription above the west door. 'Shot on the 5 August 1944'.
Looking east - rather uninspiring. St Peter. The pulpit. A moment of light relief.

  It hadn't rained properly here for nearly six months, so it was with some trepidation that I cycled towards the dark storm clouds hovering over Crotenay. As I got there, the heavens opened, and ignoring the charms of the largish village I abandoned my bike and climbed the steep hill to the church. Fortunately it was open, and I pushed quickly inside to a gloomy 19th century interior, very much in the Jura style but as charmless as the period gets.

Within fifteen minutes the storm had passed. I wandered outside into bright sunshine. The dedication of the church names the little square, and the typical war memorial remembers those killed when the Germans retreated through the Chalain area on Sunday 5 August 1944. Elsewhere in the village, markers commemorate the places where they fell.

The date above the west doors says 1841, and I think it must have been pretty much a total rebuild, despite the Romanesque apse. The papal tiara and keys again recall the dedication, and an inscription reads Si quis templum de viola verit disperdetillum deus.

Even with the sun out, the interior was rather dull and uninspiring, the great gothick pulpit not helping matters much. Only gorgeous coloured glass in the sanctuary windows lightened the moment; ironically, its workaday predecessor had probably been destroyed on that same day in August 1944.

The village is one of few in the area with shops and a bar. Don't leave Crotenay without noticing the pretty fire engine sheltering on the road to Monnet la Ville.

Saint-Pierre, Crotenay, is above the village on the D471 road between Lons and Champagnole. I found it open.