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Built atop a steep rocky outcrop, this church, surrounded by the cemetery and a grassy forecourt, dominates the village of Castellet-lès-Sausses.
The church at Castellet-lès-Sausses, first mentioned in 1351 in a decime account for the diocese of Glandèves, most likely corresponds to the building we have before us, whose features place its construction no later than the 13th century. This building, apparently solid and sufficient for the needs of the parish population, has undergone few alterations. The most significant alteration concerns the nave’s 1st bay, which was lengthened to accommodate the bell-tower above, probably in the 17th century. The side chapel grafted onto the north wall of the 3rd bay may date from the same period. Subsequent modifications are even more modest. The Bas-Alpes historian Féraud denounces the barbaric taste [which] caused the ashlars and their compartments to disappear in 1815 under lime plaster and heavy rendering. Pastoral visits report the transformation of the side chapel into a sacristy between 1846 and 1858, and the repair of the northwest corner of the bell tower and the door joinery between 1858 and 1866.
The church comprises a 3-bay nave with barrel vaulting, a right choir bay with barrel vaulting, a semicircular cul-de-four apse, a sacristy adjoining the north wall of the nave and a small bell tower on the southwest corner of the nave. Seemingly simple and homogeneous, the building shows evidence of numerous alterations. The nave and right choir bay are not on the same axis as the apse, which appears to have been designed for another nave.
source: Inventaire général du Patrimoine culturel Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
04320 Castellet-lès-Sausses-en