Église Sainte-Catherine, Romanesque Revival church in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, France
Église Sainte-Catherine is a Romanesque Revival church on rue Sainte-Catherine in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, built of local industrial brick from the Berger brickyard with metal and reinforced-concrete structures. It measures 47 metres long and 19 metres wide, and its 55-metre bell tower, inspired by Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, stands at the corner. The nave has three bays vaulted by a row of domes, with polished granite columns whose capitals were carved by Antoine Bourlange.
The 13th–15th-century parish church was to be enlarged by abbé Grenouilheau, who bought the hôtel de Vassal in 1850 and exchanged it in 1857 for the market hall north of the church. After a side-aisle vault collapsed in 1897, Georges Leygues, who largely funded the work, had Édouard Corroyer design a Romano-Byzantine church. Construction began in 1898, the choir was consecrated in 1911, and the church was consecrated in 1937.
The church keeps the name of the medieval parish it replaced, and its stained glass includes a cycle of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, made by the Master of Saint Catherine, perhaps Berthomieu Laurens, once in the old church's bay no. 1 and now divided among the upper parts of several windows. The 15th–16th-century windows of the old church were reset in the side aisles by Félix Gaudin.
The church sits centrally in town and is easily reached on foot, with services held throughout the week and guided tours available. Access may sometimes be restricted during religious ceremonies, so it is worth checking locally before planning a visit.
The 15th–16th-century windows of the old church were moved into the side aisles of the new building by glassmaker Félix Gaudin. The Passion windows, made around 1530, are attributed to the Master of the Passion, whose name, according to J. Rollet, may be read backwards in an inscription on window no. 9, La Résurrection.
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