This article sets out to illustrate the state of knowledge as regards building materials and construction techniques in medieval religious architecture in south-west France, with a focus on the 10th to 13th centuries. lt appears that churches in this region were often built directly in durable materials, since the start of Antiquity, and that the impression of a multiplication of places of worship in the 11th and 12th centuries may derive not so much from a process of "petrification'' as from an impression given by the written sources, and from a desire to monumentalize on the part of the Church, and its desire for control. The article addresses questions relating to the choice of materials (stone, brick, and pebbles, as well as stone that was reused, collected, or quarried), and then the question of walls made in petit appareil (small stone blocks), in the 10th and 11th centuries, those made of mixed materials, and, finally, and more briefly, buildings constructed using medium-sized, dressed blocks. This discussion, which is far from exhaustive, is based on general facts and information, and on a few, better documented examples, so as to illustrate the subject of study in more concrete terms. Keywords: religious architecture, south-west France, medieval period, building materials, building techniques.

Actas del congreso Il paesaggio pietrificato. La storia sociale dell’Europa tra X e XIII secolo attraverso l’archeologia del costruito (Arezzo, 7-8 febbraio 2020). Este congreso fue celebrado en el ámbito del proyecto ERC: Petrifying Wealth. The Southern European Shift to Masonry as Collective Investment in identity, c.1050-1300. Este artículo está sujeto a una licencia CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Peer reviewed