Building Name

:

Saint-Priest  

Location

:

Choir

Capital

:

3

Subject

:

Donation of Guillaume de Bezac

Description

:

Hemicycle, capital on the second column south, parting from the west. On the left angle of the east face, the donor offers a Volvic priest a column symbolizing the church, whose altar is surmounted by a chalice representing the architecture. On the west face, two angels with wings, carry a standard. The angel on the left guards the sanctuary owed to Guillaume.

Reference

:

The toponymy "Bezac" is not found in the Auvergne. The only commune of the same name is found in the Ariège. Saint Priest was massacred in 674 in his own home, the same place where Avit founded the first monastery. Guillaume de Bezac is not known apart from this inscription. Based on iconography, the donation is not limited to the capital, but includes a large part of the Romanesque sanctuary. The inscription suggests a twelfth-century date, most probably after the first third, based on the Romanesque form used for the donor name.

Corpus Ref.

:

vol. 18, Allier, Cantal, Loire, Haute-Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, 246