Varen No. 1
Image copyright © Juan Antonio Olañeta, 2011
Standing permission
Results: 5 records
LB01: design element - motifs - scroll
Scene Description: on all four sides; this view of the north side
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Juan Antonio Olañeta, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Juan Antonio Olañeta
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
R01: design element - motifs - roundel - 4
Scene Description: at the angles
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Juan Antonio Olañeta, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Juan Antonio Olañeta
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of stoup - north side
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Juan Antonio Olañeta, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Juan Antonio Olañeta
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of stoup - southeast side
Scene Description: notice the incongruous base on which the stoup ia riased
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Juan Antonio Olañeta, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Juan Antonio Olañeta
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of basin - upper view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Juan Antonio Olañeta, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Juan Antonio Olañeta
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
INFORMATION
Font ID: 04199VAR
Object Type: Stoup
Object Details: altar
Font Century and Period/Style: 11th - 12th century, Romanesque
Church / Chapel Name: Ancienne priorale Sainte-Marie-et-Saint-Pierre [aka Église Saint-Pierre de Varen]
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mary the Virgin & St. Peter
Church Notes: church listed in the Mérimée [ref.: PA00095899]: "Le prieuré bénédictin de Varen, mentionné dans un acte de 972, ne fut que tardivement rattaché à l'abbaye d'Aurillac. L'église fut reconstruite par les moines à la fin du 11e siècle."
Church Address: 401 Rue Principale, 82330 Varen, France
Site Location: Tarn-et-Garonne, Occitanie, France, Europe
Directions to Site: Located off the D958, 40 km SW of Villefranche-de-Rouerge
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocèse de Montauban
Historical Region: Rouerge
Additional Comments: re-cycled / re-purposed object; may have been originally an altar
Font Notes:
Click to view
Described in the Dictionnaire des églises... (1966- ) as a holy-water stoup ornamented with roundels and possibly having been originally a votive altar. Listed in Palissy [ref.: PM82000984]: "Bénitier [...] marbre gris peint en jaune et blanc [...] Haut Moyen Age [...] H = 68,5-69,5 ; l = 59-60 ; d = 46-49 ; pr = 35". Illustrated in Mémoire [ref.: MHCO082_2024082000064, MHCO082_2024082000065]. The rectangular object is now standing on an incongruous round and squat base; the upper surface of the object appears to have been carved out very irregularly; the general shape is that of small altar, in the Roman style, with constructional colonnettes with moulded capitals and bases at the angles; the lower base has a frieze decorated with scrolls. There is another object of interest that may or may not be ralated to baptism: a plain vessel, rectangular inside and out, located against the back wall and apparently disused [see 12 July 2022 photograph by Antoine Garnier https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Varen_-_Eglise_Saint-Pierre_-_06.jpg [accessed 20 April 2025]. [cf. Index entry for Varen No. 2 for another listed object in this church]
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Juan Antonio Olañeta, of www.claustro.com, for his photographs of this stoup
COORDINATES
UTM: 31T 411531 4889995
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 44.157778, 1.893611
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 44° 09′ 28.08″ N, 1° 53′ 37″ E
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, marble
Font Shape: rectangular, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: rectangular
Drainage Notes: no lining
Notes on Measurements: [cf. FontNotes]
REFERENCES
- Dictionnaire des églises de France, Belgique, Luxembourg, Suisse, Paris: R. Laffont, 1966-, III B 172
- France, Ministère de la culture, Inventaire Général, Mémoire / POP : la plateforme ouverte du patrimoine (Ministère de la culture, Inventaire Général), 2024. URL: https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/search/mosaic?base=%5B%22Photographies%20%28M%C3%A9moire%29%22%5D.
- France, Ministère de la culture, Inventaire Général, Mémoire / POP : la plateforme ouverte du patrimoine (Ministère de la culture, Inventaire Général), 2024. URL: https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/search/mosaic?base=%5B%22Photographies%20%28M%C3%A9moire%29%22%5D.
- France, Ministère de la culture, Inventaire Général, Palissy (France, Ministère de la culture), France, Ministère de la culture. URL: http://www.culture.fr/public/mistral/palissy.