16th century religious building housing The Nativity of Bréa. Equipped with a Lingardi organ and its platform for a choir.
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The collegiate church of Saint Martin is the largest religious building in the village of La Brigue. The current building is said to have been constructed on the foundations of a 13th-century building. The side portal is thought to belong to this first building, and contains the oldest lintel in the Nisso-Liguria region, dated 1234. The collegiate church is distinguished from the cathedral by the presence of canons, a community created and financially founded by a lord.
Today, it still stands in the eponymous square, recognizable as soon as you enter the village by its slender Lombard bell tower. According to tradition, Saint Martin of Tours preached here... He is depicted above the main portal, sharing his cloak with a poor man. Note the lintel, embossed with an IHS and the Savoy coat of arms.
This immense early 16th-century edifice testifies to the importance of religion in the way of life of yesteryear, but also to the resources that the brigasques were able to deploy for this type of construction. The interior of the collegiate church is also adorned with altarpieces. These include the Martyrdom of Saint Elmo and, most famously, the Nativity, the only one of its kind painted by Louis Bréa, a painter from the Ecole des Primitifs Niçois, some twenty years after the frescoes at Notre Dame des Fontaines...
This church, originally of Lombard Romanesque style, was "baroquized" in the 17th and 18th centuries. Highlights include the choir vault decorated with the glory of the Blessed Sacrament, the high altar with its wood panelling, the altarpieces of the Virgin Mary and Notre-Dame-des-Neiges. The church contains an original altarpiece with an unusual subject: the Adoration of Jesus or Nativity by Louis Bréa (1510). The scene is striking for its simplicity and symbolic composition. Opposite each other, the Virgin and Joseph kneel before the naked Son of God, lying on a piece of his mother's cloak. Little Jesus is at the apex of the inverted triangle, on either side of which are Mary and Joseph, for God is no longer up in heaven, but on earth. Through the window opening, the Annunciation to the shepherds can be seen. The angel, messenger of "great joy", is on the vertical axis of the altarpiece, where Jesus obviously stands.
The collegiate church was listed as a historic monument in 1949. Lingardi organ classified as a historic monument in 1971.
Church open every day of the year during the day.
Today, it still stands in the eponymous square, recognizable as soon as you enter the village by its slender Lombard bell tower. According to tradition, Saint Martin of Tours preached here... He is depicted above the main portal, sharing his cloak with a poor man. Note the lintel, embossed with an IHS and the Savoy coat of arms.
This immense early 16th-century edifice testifies to the importance of religion in the way of life of yesteryear, but also to the resources that the brigasques were able to deploy for this type of construction. The interior of the collegiate church is also adorned with altarpieces. These include the Martyrdom of Saint Elmo and, most famously, the Nativity, the only one of its kind painted by Louis Bréa, a painter from the Ecole des Primitifs Niçois, some twenty years after the frescoes at Notre Dame des Fontaines...
This church, originally of Lombard Romanesque style, was "baroquized" in the 17th and 18th centuries. Highlights include the choir vault decorated with the glory of the Blessed Sacrament, the high altar with its wood panelling, the altarpieces of the Virgin Mary and Notre-Dame-des-Neiges. The church contains an original altarpiece with an unusual subject: the Adoration of Jesus or Nativity by Louis Bréa (1510). The scene is striking for its simplicity and symbolic composition. Opposite each other, the Virgin and Joseph kneel before the naked Son of God, lying on a piece of his mother's cloak. Little Jesus is at the apex of the inverted triangle, on either side of which are Mary and Joseph, for God is no longer up in heaven, but on earth. Through the window opening, the Annunciation to the shepherds can be seen. The angel, messenger of "great joy", is on the vertical axis of the altarpiece, where Jesus obviously stands.
The collegiate church was listed as a historic monument in 1949. Lingardi organ classified as a historic monument in 1971.
Church open every day of the year during the day.
The collegiate church of Saint Martin is the largest religious building in the village of La Brigue. The current building is said to have been constructed on the foundations of a 13th-century building. The side portal is thought to belong to this first building, and contains the oldest lintel in the Nisso-Liguria region, dated 1234. The collegiate church is distinguished from the cathedral by the presence of canons, a community created and financially founded by a lord.
Today, it still...
Today, it still...
Openings
Openings
All year 2025 - Open everyday
