The Saint-Jean-Baptiste church (Puy-de-Dôme), winner of the Grand Prix Pèlerin du Patrimoine

“Just before confinement, my family and I went down to the family home in Esteil… We never returned to Paris!” François Thalaud, today mayor, then rediscovered this modest village and its very beautiful Romanesque church (end of the 12th century) listed as a Historic Monument, with its barrel vaults and its original bell tower-wall.

For six hundred years, nuns, “the ladies of Fontevraud”, maintained a priory here. The church, the only vestige, requires very heavy restoration for sixty inhabitants. Since 2022, the Esteil en Histoire association, under the leadership of François Thalaud, has refused fate and organized concerts – particularly in connection with the neighboring La Chaise-Dieu festival –, conferences, visits to this place with remarkable acoustics. It is about highlighting this heritage and bringing together the necessary resources.

Our jury, sensitive to this intense mobilization, awarded him the Pilgrim Together for Heritage prize, supported by the Heritage Foundation, to help him “redo the roof and consolidate the two bell towers”. The mayor is already looking for ways to finance a second phase of work in order to restore the original volume of the building cut in two during the Revolution. Thus, the latter could serve as a cultural space for the village, while remaining used for worship.

Archaeologists have already lifted the veil on a stubborn legend: the church was never burned down. Our winner is delighted to welcome specialists from the Order of Fontevraud or Auvergne Romanesque art to make everyone better aware of the rich history of the building.