Église Saint-Michel de La Garde-Adhémar, Romanesque church in La Garde-Adhémar, France.

The Église Saint-Michel de La Garde-Adhémar is a Romanesque church with a three-aisled nave of two bays, a projecting central vessel under a pitched roof of grey stone slabs, and a western apse built of rubble stone with a Romanesque frieze of false modillions carved with acanthus leaves. The bell tower preserves Romanesque elements only on its first level; the second level and octagonal pyramid were added in the 19th century by the architect Questel. The chevet has a triple apse, each pierced by a window framed in dressed stone.

A chapel on the hill is mentioned in a papal bull of 1105, before the present church was built around the mid-12th century. It became a parish church dependent on Tournus Abbey until 1540, when Pope Paul III gave it to the chapter of Grignan, which collected its revenues until the French Revolution. Recent studies show the community maintained the church regularly, with only the choir and half the transept falling to Grignan. It was restored in 1850 through Prosper Mérimée and listed as a monument historique in 1862.

Inside the entrance stands a votive altar to the nymph goddesses, found in the early 20th century near the Val des Nymphes site below the village. The north side chapel holds a 12th-century polychrome wooden statue, called Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Secours since the 19th century.

The church sits in the center of the medieval village of La Garde-Adhémar and overlooks the Pierrelatte plain. Being located within the historic village core makes it easy to explore the surrounding streets and buildings during your visit.

The church features a counter-apse, an element typically found in Rhineland churches that sets it apart from other Provençal Romanesque buildings. This architectural detail shows how northern influences reached this southern region.