Eglise Saint-Julien

The site of Laizy is on the site of a Gallo-Roman villa owned by the bishop of Autun as early as the 6th century and donated to the cathedral in the early 7th century. Legend has it that the church was built on the spot where Saint Julien de Brioude, accompanied by Saint Léger, threw down his hammer. A first church existed in the 10th century. The church depended on the chapter of Autun cathedral, of which it is a contemporary, since the 1120's. It is possible that the church was also built at the instigation of Bishop Etienne de Bagé. In the 15th or 16th century, a seigniorial chapel was added. A fire around 1640 caused the vaults of the nave to collapse. The church was remodelled in the 17th century and huge buttresses were added in 1687 to stabilise the building. The capitals were listed as Historic Monuments in 1950 and the church was restored at the end of the 20th century.
The church dates from the second quarter of the 12th century; it is estimated that the chancel was begun in the 1120s and that the nave was completed around 1140. The plan features a three-bay nave with aisles, a slightly projecting transept and a semi-circular apse preceded by a chancel bay. A Gothic chapel is added to the south of the choir and a sacristy to the north. The exterior has been completely altered and is hardly Romanesque in appearance. The bell tower, on the transept crossing, is opened by simple bays. The large buttresses against the façade, nave and transept date from the 17th century. The façade and portal are modern in appearance. Only the apse is typically Romanesque in its construction and openings. There are a few modillions with simple volutes.
The interior is still Romanesque. The nave has three bays with side aisles. The Romanesque vaults no longer exist, having been replaced by flat ceilings. It can be assumed that the nave was originally vaulted with a broken barrel vault over double slats and that the aisles were covered with arches. The square pillars, flanked by pilasters with imposts and capitals, are still standing. They support the large semi-circular arches marking the only storey above ground level. The aisles, which also have ceilings, have walls with openings and pilasters with undecorated capitals. The transept rises on four cruciform pillars flanked by pilasters, the eastern ones of which are fluted. Double scrolled pointed arches support the cupola on trumpets, which has been rebuilt. The cross-vaults, with their pointed barrel vaults, open onto the aisles through pointed arches with transoms. The pink granite choir is the most ornate part of the church. The right-hand bay, which also has a pointed barrel vault, has two arcatures with fluted pilasters on the north side. The semi-circular apse has two bays and seven semi-circular arches on granite columns with capitals. The triumphal arch, with its broken profile, rests on two fluted pilasters with capitals. To the south is the seigniorial chapel of Saint-Hubert, in Gothic style, with a pointed vault and the saint's shrine.

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