Montcherand Church

This Cluniac church, 2 km from Orbe, is decorated with frescoes from the 12th Century, the oldest figurative frescoes in Switzerland.

Probably built in the 10th Century, the church first depended on the priory of Baulmes and was then conveyed to the Benedictine monastery of Payerne, most likely during in the 11th Century. Therefore, throughout the Middle Ages, it had been indirectly dependent on Cluny. Its paintings from the 12th Century represent the twelve apostles to both sides of a central figure that no longer exists, and a figure of Christ of which only a fragment remains. All this is supplemented by decorative elements as well as a Latin inscription, fragments of the Gospel of St. Matthew.
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An association was created in 1992 with the aim of restoring (completed that same year) and conserving this church, its frescoes and its furnishings, as well as building broader public awareness of the site.

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