Église romane de Sainte Eulalie d'Olt
Built in the 11th century, the Romanesque and Gothic church of Sainte Eulalie d'Olt was fortified in the 12th century and then enlarged in the 16th century and restored several times afterwards.
The building reminds, by its plan and especially its ambulatory and its oriented apses, the famous abbey church of Conques.
In the 12th century, following numerous attacks, the church was transformed into a real defense building. The interior roof was removed and the side aisles were raised. The church was reinforced with thick walls pierced with loopholes. A triforium was added to the existing ambulatory, the roof of which had previously rested on the exterior colonettes of the three chapels. During the restoration work, an altar stone from the 10th century, consecrated by Bishop Deusdet, was discovered.
In 1524, Bishop François d'Estaing requested that the church be enlarged to accommodate all the parishioners. The last bays were completed in 1530, under the episcopate of Georges d'Armagnac, his successor.
Attacked several times, the Huguenots set it on fire in 1586. Traces of this attack are still visible in an interior staircase.
In addition, the church housed a reliquary bust containing two thorns from the crown of Christ, certified authentic and brought back from the Holy Land by Géraud de Curières and his brother Hugues. This reliquary, locked outside the church, is carried through the village during a procession named after Saint Thorn, which takes place every year on the second Sunday of July.
In one of the chapels of the ambulatory, a statue of Saint Eulalie can be seen.
In 1923, the church was classified as a historical monument.
