Abbatiale Saint-Pierre

This Benedictine abbey was founded in the 9th c. by Raoul de Turenne, Archbishop of Bourges. It is one of the most remarkable monastic churches of the Limousin Romanesque style. The glory of the church is the tympanum made by southern stone cutters about 1135. It depicts the return and triumph of the Lord in Glory at the end of Time, which precedes the last judgment, also called the second parousia The treasure is exhibited in the north transept. It consists of the famous statue of the Virgin and Child in wood covered with silver dating from the 12th century, also called the Virgin of Beaulieu, a lantern (in fact a reliquary) which may be of Byzantine origin dating from the 11th century, an enamelled shrine dating from the 13th century and representing the journey of the Three Wise Men, and two silver reliquary arms from the 13th century, those of Sainte-Félicité and Saint-Emilion. The o