Saint-Gervais-and-Saint-Protais church in Le Montet

The parish of Montet belonged formerly to the diocese of Bourges. This Romance church marks the center of an old priory Benedictine founded in 1195 by the lord of Bourbon, Archambault II, and depended on the monastery of Michel-of-The-Cluse with Avagliana close to Turin in Piedmont.

The top of the hill where it rises delivered the traces of an important ancient occupation, Neolithic site and old Roman camp. 

Devastated by the Protestants in 1568, the original church, where the first Bourbon had chosen to raise their tombs, was cut down at the XIXème century by its part is.

Currently, it comprises nothing any more but one nave and two sides finished by a small chorus.

Its capitals and its principal gate in the west received a carved decoration of a great interest. 

One finds there, engraved in the stone, the indications on all energies present in this place: the interlaced snakes show well both vouivres crossing under the church. There would be also presence of artificial underground rivers in the form of rollers.

On the square, a magic square, and with the site of the Michel Saint, a cosmo-telluric chimney.

On the capitals, faced birds drinking with the same chalice, of the interlacings, rinceaux and other sheets of acanthus recall those of Souvigny, whereas the gate, whose Greek plank and the snakes are authentically Romance, points out one of the gates of the monastery of Cluse. The style of the capitals carries to believe that the team from Burgundy about 1150 to embellish the close monasteries doubled of a team of sculptors of the school of Auvergne for the capitals with characters and the heads phytomorphes (spouting out of foliages).

A superb triton still speaks to us about the two subsoil water currents with its fish bifide tail.

On another pillar, mouth of a bull (tellurism) leave the two currents, which separate into two each one, then in three. What gives us 12 at the end. Between these interlacings, a grenade, symbol of knowledge.

A lion with head of man, wings of eagle and feet of bull (tétramorphe or sphinx), the two legs back in a vase surrounded of the terrestrial snake, energies of in bottom, (on the snake, the 7 will chakras principal) shows the cord around the kidneys of the character on his left (moreover it is not a node which closes the cord, but the two sides pass one in another, “flow” is not cut). This character is well anchored by the position of his legs to the ground, and connects himself to the sky with a raised arm. Other hand, it shows its will chakra coronal. The cord, or girdles monks marks the difference between will chakras higher and lower. One of the feet of the character is connected to a kind of bud-grenade, or perhaps the symbol of the faults, on which the tétramorphe poses also a leg. The tail of the animal ends in a head of… I do not know too what, (it could be that it is the head of the bull considering previously) looking at behind, towards the past, towards the experiment.

It with the opened mouth, to tell, prevent?  The tétramorphe on other side has a mane different. I will lean for a sun face and a moon face, which connects to the stars.
Would the energy of the place enable us to raise us?
In the “exoteric” explanation, it is known as that this capital represents the Daniel prophet in the lion's den, raising a hand in order to impose the respect on the animals…

That those which have ears hear.

And where knowledge will nest?

The bell-tower, located at the north-western angle of the monument, is the work of the Lassus architect, author of the Sacred Heart of Mills. It was useful of the stones of the old ruined church.

The length of the church is 60 meters, width 15 meters, length of the transept 28 meters, its width 6 meters, the height of the sides of 9 meters, the height of the transept of 13 meters and that of the great nave of 15 meters.

Inside, several models represent Montet at the various ages of its history:

Inhabited since highest antiquity, the hill was, before the hand of the man had not flattened the slopes of them, a rock, at the top of which the Gallic ones built a first sanctuary. The Romans also installed a strengthened camp, with the presence of a temple.

Christianity was established in the area, and Montet was évangélisé by Saint Ursin. A modest church was built close to the pagan sanctuary. The village is protected by palisades out of wooden against the invasions wisigothes. Montet from its geographical position, was located at the junction of old ways Roman, therefore Gallic, which has permi its rapid development.

With the Middle Ages, Montet became an observation post. The monastery was founded into 940 and became an important priory of more than 50 monks. It is on their initiative that the wall of enclosure of the city was set up. The church prieurale was regarded at the time as most beautiful and vastest of the religious buildings of Bourbonnais. Until the disaster of 1568, where the city was devastated by the Protestants. There remain traces of the fire in the church, on the stones.