Église Saint-Martin du Cellier, Historical Monument in Le Cellier, France

Église Saint-Martin du Cellier is a Romano-Byzantine church built of light masonry, with a tall central gable pierced by a pointed-arch window and a square clock tower capped by a shallow hipped roof. Its plan is a Greek cross: a dome on pendentives over the centre, four rectangular barrel-vaulted arms and a semicircular apse.

Architect René Ménard designed this church in Romano-Byzantine style with construction beginning in 1895 under a vision of blending architectural traditions. The building was completed in 1922 under Émile Libaudière's supervision, marking an important period in the region's religious architecture.

The painted decoration was made by the brothers Paul and Albert Lemasson in 1925 and completed in 1932. In the apse, scenes from the life of Saint Martin, patron of the parish, show him giving his cloak to a beggar, kissing a leper and raising a catechumen. A Stations of the Cross runs around the church, and a monument honours the dead of the First World War.

The church stands at the top of the village, above the clustered houses, with the square clock tower on the right of the facade. The painted decoration covers the apse and the walls around the nave, and the Stations of the Cross and the war memorial are outside. Look for the fresco of Martin giving his cloak to a beggar in the apse.

Actor Louis de Funès had his funeral service here in 1983 after spending years living nearby at Clermont Castle. This connection links the church to the story of a beloved French entertainer and adds a layer of cultural memory to the visit.