Église Saint-Julien de Chauriat, Romanesque church in Chauriat, France

Église Saint-Julien is a Romanesque church built of light tan and gray stone blocks. Its west facade is divided by four buttresses into three vertical registers, with a round-arched doorway and a round window above. The south facade has three tall blind arches with polychrome stone ornament above them, and the octagonal bell tower rises from a barlong massif over the crossing.

Construction started in the 12th century and was completed by 1201, initially functioning as a priory under the Cluniac order. This role arose from a donation by the Bishop of Clermont, anchoring the building in the region's religious institutional network.

The church is named after Saint Julian, to whom the former priory was dedicated. Its south facade, with blind arcades and panels of star and chequerboard motifs cut from stones of different colours, appears in scenes of the film Les Choristes (2004). Inside, the 15th-century remodelling left massive plastered columns, and the south aisle wall keeps original figurative capitals showing angels.

The building is legally protected as a historical monument and stands in the rural commune of Chauriat in Puy-de-Dôme department. Visitors should check opening times locally, as access can be limited depending on the season or ongoing maintenance.

The south facade of Saint-Julien appears in scenes of the 2004 film Les Choristes (Die Kinder des Monsieur Mathieu). Its inlaid stone patterns, stars and checkerboards, were long thought to imitate Roman mosaics, but no proof of that link has been found; only sparse remains of ancient buildings survive in the Auvergne.