Commented visit of the chapel Saint-André de Chânes
The origin of this hamlet chapel is linked to an old leprosarium founded by the Cistercians of Saint-Sulpice in Bugey, and dates from the 13th century. The Romanesque style chapel is decorated with murals.
Of reduced dimensions, the interest of this building lies mainly in the murals that decorate the interior. The Romanesque style chapel, consisting of a single nave, is 20 metres long by 7 metres wide and ends with a semi-circular apse in the chancel. The apse of the chancel was created between the 12th and 15th centuries, the narthex and the campanile from the late 19th or early 20th centuries. The side walls are each pierced with two openings in the center. The openwork campanile houses a bell melted in 1835 in Lyon. The frescoes were discovered in 1985, then restored during the work of safeguarding the chapel. They are made on lime mortar, with mineral pigments (red ochre and yellow ochre) and vegetable charcoal (vine black). All the walls are painted, only the frescoes of the choir are perfectly legible. On the sides, there is a part of fresco of Saint-Michel and the dragon, naive drawings, animals, characters, etc... The consecration crosses are painted on the perimeter of the chapel between the frescoes, and are all different. They are intended to perpetuate the memory of crosses traced on the walls of chapels or churches by the bishop of the consecration ceremony.