Les chapiteaux, l’organisation du décor et quelques particularités architecturales de l’église Notre-Dame, à Saignon (Vaucluse)

The Romanic church “Notre-Dame de Saignon” is composed of elements with different influences. The nave is of Provence type, as are both supports of the chancel arch, the four capitals of which have models in Avignon. Inside the apse, governed by a symmetry unusual to the region, other capitals, like the architecture, have their equivalents in the Velay region. On the outside, the apse is decorated with quasi-Cistercian capitals. The unusual architecture of the occidental façade seems to follows Auvergne examples, of which it reproduces separately but simultaneously two peculiarities found elsewhere: a succession of geminate bays and of pilasters, and individualisation of the final elements. This is obtained by the introduction, in the central section, of trefoil arches comparable to those of Auvergne, Velay and the middle valley of the Rhone. Different indications seem to show that all the parts of the building are contemporary to each other.