The Church Notre Dame De Mailhat

The most charming of the small churches on the Issoire plain, Notre-Dame-de-Mailhat was built at the end of the 12th century, mainly in arkose, and is a favorite with Romanesque art enthusiasts for its many sculpted capitals and modillions.
Preceded by a sanctuary donated to the Cluniac abbey of Sauxillanges in the 11th century, the church of Mailhat was fortified and raised in the late Middle Ages, and enlarged with side chapels in the 15th century. Listed as a Monument Historique in 1859, Notre-Dame de Mailhat has a single nave plan and a canted chevet. The exterior is richly decorated with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic heads on capitals and modillions. A man holding a purse, a fish and a woman suckling snakes flank the south door, which features Romanesque hinges and Gothic decoration. Inside, the mermaid, eagle and griffin motifs recall the influence of Antiquity during this Romanesque period. The remarkably well executed 15th-century culottes in the south chapel depict angels carrying the instruments of the Passion.