Notre-Dame-d'Alydon, Medieval church in hilltop Oppède, France.
Notre-Dame-d'Alydon is a 16th-century collegiate church on a rocky outcrop above Oppède. It is built of light beige stone blocks, with a gabled nave, a square bell tower with an arched bell opening, and grey stone slab roofing. Five round windows and sloping buttresses line the side wall, and a ruined stone wall curves in front.
The first written record of the church dates from 1235, though its construction probably dates to the 10th or 11th century. In 1546 Maynier d'Oppède had it raised to collegiate status by Antoine Trévula, vice-legate of Pope Paul III. It was remodeled in the 16th century and again in 1592 with Gothic additions, and was listed as a monument historique on 11 October 1929.
From 1511 to 1779 the church was dedicated to "beata Maria dolidonis", Notre-Dame Dolidon, the Virgin of Sorrows invoked by or for the suffering. The choir's three-sided apse was completed in 1592. The Oppède Festival raised funds for the restoration begun in 2000, with the comedian Michel Leeb as patron; the church later served as the set for the music video "Go on" by Tom Leeb.
The church stands at the top of old Oppède on a rocky Luberon promontory, south of the village on Rue du Chapitre, and cannot be reached by car. The final stretch is on foot through the village lanes. Water infiltration through the stone-slab roof and walls has long affected the interior, so some chapels, paintings and furnishings may be under restoration.
The 18th-century gilded wooden altarpiece frames the painting Remise du Rosaire à saint Dominique et sainte Catherine de Sienne by Reynaud-Levieux. Thierry Martel de Goult restored the canvas, reinstalled in 2005, while Duvieuxbourg of Avignon restored the retable itself. The new baroque-style altar stone was funded by the Société Méridionale de Carrières d'Oppède.
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