Besse, Dordogne

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Besse

Commune

The town hall in Besse

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Location of Besse
 Besse

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Coordinates:  44°40′11″N 1°06′25″ECoordinates:  44°40′11″N 1°06

′25″E

Country France
Region Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department Dordogne
Arrondissement Sarlat-la-Canéda
Canton Vallée Dordogne

Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Francis Malvy

Area 16.2 km2 (6.3 sq mi)
1

Population 157
 (Jan. 2018)[1]
 • Density 9.7/km2 (25/sq mi)

Time zone UTC+01:00 (CET)

 • Summer (DST) UTC+02:00 (CEST)

INSEE/Postal code 24039 /24550

Elevation 170–345 m (558–1,132 ft)

(avg. 270 m or 890 ft)

1
 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers >
1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Besse (French pronunciation: [bɛs] ( listen); Occitan: Beça) is a commune in

the Dordogne department in southwestern France.

Contents

 1Church
 2Population
 3See also
 4References
 5Bibliography
Church[edit]
The church of St Martin, Besse, dates from the late 11thc. It was part of a Benedictine
priory, replaced by Augustines in the 13thc, and was constructed by the old château of
Besse.
What remains now is the part of the nave closest to the transept, and the West façade
with the porch. The rest of the nave was built during the 12thc with a guard room above.
The walls are pierced with loopholes for the archers and other defensive measures
during the Hundred Years' War. The English were repulsed but by 1454 church and
village were in a state of abandon. The lord of the village, Raymond-Bernard de
Gauléjac brought new tenants in from Quercy and Rouergue.
The church became the parish church in the 14thc. The transept and the choir date from
the 15thc. In the following century, the church depended on the canonical chapter of
Biron. In 1648, the church was restored with materials from the old château.
In 1961, paintings were discovered in the South transept.
The West façade and the porch
Porch
This is the most remarkable part of the church. The porch comprises two decorated
Romanesque voussures ornées below an archivolt, resting on colonnettes and framed
by lateral dosserets which mount to the height of the imposts. These colonnettes
continue below the l'archivolt to a corniche supported by corbels forming the base of a
triangular fronton decorated with lozenges.
The themes of the porch sculpture, expressing the messianic Redemption, are read
from left to right:

 Isaiah, standing with a book in his hands, recoils from a

vision of an angel bearing a glowing charcoal towards his
lips,
 A Seraph with three pairs of wings and showing the palms
of his hands
 Adam and Eve, naked, standing by the Tree of Life, hide
their sex. Adam looks back to listen to Jehovah who has a
halo and holds out his hand. On the left is inscribed: ADA
VBI ES and on the right: XI RINVS
 Adam and Eve are clothed as a result of their sin; the
serpent twined itself around the Tree of Life.
 A stag gallops before a hunter. A small person can be seen
between its antlers. This illustrates the legende of Saint
Eustace. This represents the Quest for God.
 Saint Michel, standing with a shield, slays the dragon.
  An angel plunges towards the person seated on a chair
and seizes his hands; this is the Deliverance of Saint Peter-
in-Chains.
In the centre, two angels raise a small seated man. An inscription says: (A)NGELUS
DOMIN(I)...AN...S...N...EL...(P)ETRUS O...E. This refers to Saint Peter the Exorcist, os
Saint Peter in Chains, of whom the Golden Legends says that when he suffered
martyrdom one of the executioners saw his souls ascending to Heaven borne by two
angels.
The murals in the South transept
These late 16thc paintings, discovered in 1961, were restored without the authorisation
of the Department of Historic Monuments. They were probably not done with sufficient
attention to the necessary minutiae, and are not all visible.
On the West wall, Christ mocked by four soldiers, a scene of martyrdom.
On the South wall, right of the window, the Arrest of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane
with the Kiss of Judas. To the right, the dead Christ.

Population[edit]
Historical population

Year Pop. ±%

1864 622 —    

1962 211 −66.1%

1968 191 −9.5%

1975 207 +8.4%

1982 183 −11.6%

1990 171 −6.6%

1999 163 −4.7%

2008 150 −8.0%

See also[edit]
 Communes of the Dordogne département

References[edit]
 1. ^ "Populations légales 2018". The National Institute of Statistics and
Economic Studies. 28 December 2020.

 Classement de l'église Saint-Martin de Bess [archive], base

Mérimée, ministère français de la Culture. Consulté le 19
janvier 2010
 Françoise Auricoste, voir Bibliographie, tome 1, p. 70-76
This is a translation from the French article on Wikipedia.

Bibliography[edit]
 Jean Secret - Périgord roman - Zodiaque (collection "la nuit
des temps" n°27) - La Pierre-qui-Vire - 2e édition - 1979
 Pierre Dubourg-Noves - Besse, église Saint-Martin dans
Congrès archéologique de France. 137e session. Périgord
Noir. 1979 - pp. 245–254 Société Française d'Archéologie -
Paris - 1982
 Françoise Auricoste, La bastide de Villefranche du
Périgord, capitale de la châtaigneraie (1261-1800), tome
II : 1500-1800, p. 61-66, Éditions du Roc de Bourzac,
Bayac, 1994 (ISBN 2-87624-058-0).
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