Eglise

The church of Saint-Claude in Dracy-les-Couches was rebuilt around 1715. Before 1789, Dracy and Saint-Maurice had a church and a common cemetery. Like much of the village, the church is built into the rock. The first construction undertaken by Count Pierre de Berbis dates from 1715 and was dedicated to Saint
Claude. In 1826, the Marquis of Grammont built the nave and added wooden side aisles. In 1837, the Count of Villers-la-Faye had the present bell tower added. In 1869, the Marquis of Laubespin had the aisles of the nave enlarged to make the present side aisles, replacing the wooden pillars that supported the vault with sandstone columns with moulded capitals. In 1875, a complete embellishment was carried out by an Italian painter thanks to the Marquise de Laubespin. Five changes were made in the space of a century and a half. On entering the church, one is surprised by the 19th century paintings and in particular by the large blue vault restored in 2000. According to Canon Grivot, it is one of the few churches in Burgundy to have preserved its late 19th century
paintings at the end of the 19th century, which makes it a small jewel of sacred art, unsuspected from the outside. In the choir: The vault is decorated with a medallion with the blond Christ with blue eyes (typical representation of the 19th century). He is surrounded by the four evangelists: - St Matthew with a (winged) man because his Gospel begins with the genealogy of Christ,
- St. Mark with a lion evoking the desert where John the Baptist preaches, - St. Luke with the bull recalling the sacrifices of the Temple, the place where the third Gospel begins and ends, - St. John with the eagle because of the sublime elevation of his prologue "In the beginning was the Word...". (The eagle is said to be the bird that flies highest in the sky and the only one that can look the sun in the face). The stained glass windows in the nave, treated almost in grisaille, all come from the same workshop (Porcherot in Dijon).

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