ABBEY CHURCH OF SAINT-CHEF
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Church with an exceptional fresco decoration in Romanesque-Byzantine style, among the richest and best preserved.
Although the story begins in the 6th century with Saint Theudère, the Benedictine monastery was built between the 10th and 12th centuries. By the 12thcentury , the monastery was at its peak, with a dozen priories and some 80 parish churches under its orders, whose monks led religious life and collected revenues and taxes. It was at this time that the abbey church was decorated with a vast array of frescoes (the most beautiful frescoes can only be seen on guided tours and by reservation at the Saint-Chef tourist office, for reasons of access and extreme conservation). Much later, the abbey church of Saint-Chef was one of the very first buildings to be classified as a historic monument by Prosper Mérimée in 1840. A fascinating testament to Romanesque architecture and art, the church is home to some of the richest and best-preserved Romanesque-Byzantine frescoes in the world. At the heart of this ensemble, the upper chapel, known as the Chapel of the Angels, still evokes the heavenly Jerusalem, based on Saint John's apocalyptic vision. The 15th-century portal is one of the few examples of flamboyant Gothic in the Isère department. The organ, dating from 1833, is listed. As for the abbey town, it has left a strong imprint on the village, with its succession of turreted houses, historiated doors, mullioned bays in the village, remains of the castle and its fortifications...
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