Fouille archeologique préventive, Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives

Events / Last discoveries

The crypts of the church of Sant Raféu (Var)

On line since September 16, 2009 · Updated September 16, 2009
Since 1994, several excavation campaigns have been carried out during the restoration of the Church of Sant Raféu which was at the origin of the town of Saint-Raphaël (Var).

The context of the intervention

A number of buildings have succeeded one another on this site and the impressive remains of some of them are still visible. This has stimulated research by specialists as well as an ambitious restoration and development project.
An early Christian church was built on the foundations of a building dating from Antiquity (6th century). A physical anthropology study was undertaken after the discovery of tile-covered graves.
Dating from the Carolingian period (9th-10th centuries), two-metre high apse walls are visible, as is the base of an altar. Such discoveries are rare and particularly precious.
 
In the 11th century, the first three buildings were encompassed in a larger building, one of the rare examples of a Provençal church with crypts, dating from the first Romanesque period. All these remains were beneath the floor of the church dating from the second Romanesque Period (12th century). It was around this later church, fortified at the beginning of the 14th century and enlarged in the 17th century, that the ancient village of Saint-Raphaël developed.

The archaeological excavations and restorations

Entrusted to Inrap by the Regional Archaeology Service, the archaeological research was directed by Michel Piskorz, Nathalie Molina and Aurélie Dumont. The excavation under the church has been accompanied, since the beginning of 2005, by a programme of architectural and archival research directed by Nathalie Molina and financed by the Ministry of Culture and Inrap.. The results of this research will soon be published.
 
The work of restoration and the presentation of the discoveries, financed and organised by the Municipality of Saint-Raphaël, the Regional Department of Historic Monuments and the County Council, were entrusted to Francesco Flavigny, Head Architect of Historic Monuments.
 
An archaeological crypt, beneath the floor of the Romanesque church, displaying the remains of the successive constructions has been opened to the public.

Restoration of the church

Town of St Raphael

Curation

Regional Archaeology Service (Drac Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur)

Client authority for the restoration of the crypts

Regional Conservation of Historical Monuments (Drac Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur)

Funding

Ministry of Culture and Communication, Var County Council, Town of St Raphaël

Voir l'album

  • Church of St Rafèu
    Church of St Rafèu
    © F.Muller, Town of Saint-Raphaël
  • Marble fragment of an altar table (6th century ?)
    Marble fragment of an altar table (6th century ?)
    © F.Muller, Town of Saint-Raphaël
  • Stonework altar base, situated in the centre of the Carolingian apse (9th-10th century), visible in the crypt, under the floor of the present church.
    Stonework altar base, situated in the centre of the Carolingian apse (9th-10th century), visible in the crypt, under the floor of the present church.
    © F.Muller, Town of Saint-Raphaël
  • Romanesque apse (First Romanesque period 11th century) in the archaeological crypt of the church of St Rafèu
    Romanesque apse (First Romanesque period 11th century) in the archaeological crypt of the church of St Rafèu
    © F.Muller, Town of Saint-Raphaël
  • 13th century bas-relief fragment.
    13th century bas-relief fragment.
    © F.Muller, Town of Saint-Raphaël