page_title: Bayons
section_title: Religious heritage
hierarchical_section_title: Bayons / Culture and heritage / Religious heritage
caption_attribution_description: This file was uploaded with Commonist.
context_page_description: Bayons is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of south-eastern France.
  The inhabitants of the commune are known as Bayonnais or Bayonnaises.
context_section_description: The Church of Saint Anne at Astoin was the former castrum church dedicated to Saint-Michel. The Parish of Astoin was merged with Bayons in 1711.
  The Church of Saint-Christophe and Saint Sebastian at Esparron. The former Church of Saint Vincent de Reynier on the hill is in ruins: it was an old chapel chosen to replace the parish church at the end of the Wars of religion in 1599. It was replaced by another Church of Saint Vincent in 1833.
  The Chapel of Basse Combe was restored in the 2000s.
  The Saint Mary Magdalene Chapel in Haute Combe is in ruins.
  The Chapel Notre-Dame-Secours-des-Pécheurs at Baudinard was built by the inhabitants in 1867-1868 for the new cemetery which replaced the old cemetery which was far away.
  The Church of Notre-Dame-de-Bethléem (11th century) is registered as an historical monument. The church is large for the size of the village (35m long and 9m wide with a height of 15m at the Nave). It once housed a priory from the Abbey of l'Ile-Barbe. It is of Roman architecture with Gothic influences. According to Mark de Leeuw it is a building where Alpine art of the 13th century is demonstrated with the most finesse. Its facade is divided by buttresses, the choir is flanked by side chapels, and the Apse is flat. The bays of the apse are large  and the Oeil-de-boeuf (or Ox-eye window) on the western facade gives a beautiful light inside the church and on the baptismal font installed in the centre of the nave. The capitals are decorated with foliage, jewels, and trilobes.
  The vaults were rebuilt several times: the choir in the 14th century and the nave in 1664. Other comprehensive repairs took place from 1664 to 1689 and the tower is repaired in 1724. A clock was added to it in 1742. Many other repairs took place throughout the 20th century and roofs were restored to their original angles in 1995.
  The Church contains many items that are registered as historical objects:
  A Cross (Crucifix) (18th century)
  A Chalice (19th century)
  A Cross (Crucifix) (17th century)
  A Painting: Joseph of Léonissa (17th century)
  The main Altar (18th century)
  A Painting: Assumption (17th century)
  A Painting: Death of Saint Joseph (17th century)
  A Painting: Saints Jacques and Peter at the foot of the virgin (17th century)
  The enclosures in the 2 lateral chapels (17th century)
  A Pulpit (17th century)
  2 Pews (19th century)
  A Statue: Virgin and child (18th century)
  A Painting with frame: Virgin of pity (18th century)
  A Painting: Saint Blaise (1750)
  A Painting: Adoration of the Magi (17th century)
  A Retable: Adoration of the magi (18th century)
  A Bronze bell (1510)
  A Baptismal font (16th century)
caption: Church of Notre-Dame-de-Bethléem.
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