Église Saint-Romain de Saint-Romain-de-Surieu, Roman Catholic church in Saint-Romain-de-Surieu, France.
Église Saint-Romain is a former Benedictine priory church east of the village of Saint-Romain-de-Surieu, near the Sanne. The building measures about 21 by 8.5 metres and is oriented east; a square bell tower forms the first bay of the choir, ending in a flat-walled rectangular apse. Rough tan, brown and grey stone, a tall arched window in the projecting gabled section, and a round-arched window in the lower side body.
The priory church of Saint-Romain is documented as a parish church in 1075, when the settlement had moved down to the banks of the Sanne. A papal bull of 1503 attached it to the monastery of Saint-Pierre in Vienne, on which the parish depended until the 18th century. Monks were still recorded in 1452, and the building was extensively restored in 1967.
The parish now belongs to Notre-Dame des Sources en Sanne Dolon, which groups Saint-Romain with eight other bell towers or former parishes. The church stands on the route of the GR 65, also waymarked as the Camino de Santiago. Inside, the altar cloth is painted with the words "VIE" and "PAIX".
The church sits on slightly elevated ground and is easily reached via the main path through the village. The interior is generally accessible to visitors during the week and has straightforward entry without special requirements.
On the south-west corner of the nave, a scratched canonical sundial marks the stonework, a rare surviving trace of how the parish told the hours. The church stands on the GR 65, also waymarked as the route to Santiago de Compostela, and was substantially restored in 1967.
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