This bell tower, with its imperial-style roof with two domes, can be seen from a long way off. It was decapitated in 1794 and rebuilt twenty years later, in the same architectural style. Its curved lines give a taster of the Baroque décor to be found on the inside!
The storm of Revolutionary fervour did not spare the furniture of this church either. In 1806, Piedmont sculptor Delponte created a new main altarpiece from elements of the old one. The relative monotony of its pale green colour is broken up by the gilded twisted columns, statues and painting that punctuate its façade and bring it to life: at the bottom of the painting representing the Assumption of the Virgin, St. Nicholas and St. Joseph form part of the Baroque staging of the scene. In the side panels, the statues of St. Jacques and St. Francis de Sales are slightly more hieratic. Above the protruding cornice is a row of "cauldrons", fake reliquaries, and the attic (the upper part of the altarpiece) is punctuated by the statues of St. Bernard-des-Alpes and St. Anthony. Between them is a canopy with a painting depicting St. Agnes and St. Agatha.
At the end of the right-hand nave, the Rosary altarpiece displays the fifteen medallions of the Mysteries of the Virgin, carved in bas-relief, around its central niche holding a representation of Mary.
The altarpiece of St. Aubin, in the opposite nave, was the subject of particular attention on the saint's day of its eponymous saint every year, on 1 March, when there was a great fair in the village!
Beyond the altarpieces, there is some interesting furniture to be seen, particularly the two bas-reliefs in the chancel and, on the pillars at the entrance to the chancel, an 18th-century Pietà and a Madonna and Child that is even older.
At the end of the right-hand nave, the Rosary altarpiece displays the fifteen medallions of the Mysteries of the Virgin, carved in bas-relief, around its central niche holding a representation of Mary.
The altarpiece of St. Aubin, in the opposite nave, was the subject of particular attention on the saint's day of its eponymous saint every year, on 1 March, when there was a great fair in the village!
Beyond the altarpieces, there is some interesting furniture to be seen, particularly the two bas-reliefs in the chancel and, on the pillars at the entrance to the chancel, an 18th-century Pietà and a Madonna and Child that is even older.
Opening
From 01/09 to 31/12 between 8.30 am and 4.30 pm.
Closed Saturday and Sunday.
Closed exceptionally on November 1st, November 11th and December 25th.
Closed Saturday and Sunday.
Closed exceptionally on November 1st, November 11th and December 25th.
Church of St. Nicholas: Free entry
BP 04
73210 La Plagne Tarentaise
73210 La Plagne Tarentaise
