Abbatiale Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul

The abbey church at Solignac is one of the oldest and most remarkable churches in the Limousin. It has had an eventful history. It was at his request that Saint Eloi (b. 588, Chaptelat, north of Limoges), goldsmith at the Limoges workshop, then in Paris, and now bishop of Noyon, obtained the land of "Solemniac" from King Dagobert in 632, wishing to return to his homeland. He founded a large monastery where many monks devoted themselves to prayer and goldsmithing. But the monastery was plundered and ruined by the Saracens in the 8th century, then by the Normans. In the 10th and 11th centuries, it was gradually reborn and prospered, passing from the original Luxeuil rule to the Benedictine rule. In the 12th and 13th centuries, under royal protection and rich in relics, the new abbey owned and controlled numerous lands and churches in the region