SAINT ANTHONY CHURCH OF VIALA

The Church of Saint Anthony, located in the hamlet of Viala, in the commune of Banassac-Canilhac, was built a few years after the parish was established in 1802. It is representative of the new churches built in the 19th century, to which no constraints of existing buildings applied, and which present a complete and very coherent whole. The plan remains classic: it is in the form of a Latin cross with its single nave flanked by two side chapels, and ending in a rectangular apse. But the interior is remarkable for its series of murals that decorate all the walls: the nave is painted in shades of yellow, the chapels in blue, and the apse in green. The motifs are numerous: flowers, scrolls, faux stonework, draperies, faces of angels… On the vault of the apse is a wicker basket containing two fish and seven loaves of bread. This uncommon representation refers to one of the miracles attributed to Jesus Christ, the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes.