Collégiale de Saint-Bonnet-le-Château, Gothic church monument in Saint-Bonnet-le-Château, France

The Collégiale de Saint-Bonnet-le-Château is a Flamboyant Gothic church of grey ashlar with reddish tile roofs, built mainly in the 15th century with three basilical vessels. Its two western towers stand set back from the facade: the taller left one is flat-topped with twin lancet openings, the right one carries a steep pyramidal spire. Between them a gabled bay holds a rose window above a twin-doored portal, and a small rounded turret sits at the far right.

Construction started around 1400 with major work finished by 1418, funded by generous donations from wealthy citizens. Patrons like Guillaume Taillefer made such an ambitious building project possible.

The lower chapel, used as an oratory by Anne Dauphine, holds 15th-century wall paintings that art historians have linked to works in Avignon; archives name a painter, Louis Vobis, then working for her. In the crypt, a fresco pairs the twelve zodiac signs with musical instruments, a scheme read as universal harmony.

The main areas are open during daytime hours, though the library, bell tower, and lower chapel require a guided tour to visit. Planning ahead helps ensure you can see the specific sections you are interested in.

In 1837, repairs in the vault of the last side chapel uncovered about forty skeletons, preserved by alum and arsenic in the soil. No one knows who they were, why they were placed there, or since when; early guesses pointed to victims of the baron des Adrets, who ravaged the region in 1562.