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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Blue439" data-source="post: 830313" data-attributes="member: 53455">A mountain village church (2015)Built at an altitude of 1,162 meters above sea level, this Romanesque church in the village of Montarcher claims to be the highest in the Old province of Auvergne (central France). The church as we see it today is enlarged from a Year 1000 castle chapel, as this mountaintop was fortified back then. The fact that this is a “mountain” church is also attested by the sole entrance being on the south side of the nave, and deeply recessed to provide some shelter to the congregation (see second photo below).Nikon D810, Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 15mm, ƒ/2.8 ZF.2 lens, manual focus. Handheld.[ATTACH=full]416504[/ATTACH]This is a southern view of the church. The recessed and sheltered part is, in some regions of France, called a caquetoire, a name I have always found hilarious: it literally means “cackling place”, which says a lot about the sort of cackling, babbling and prattling on about the neighbors and the village affairs that took place there before or after Mass... <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite11" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll eyes    :rolleyes:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":rolleyes:" /> Nikon D810, Nikkor 24mm, ƒ/1.4 G lens. Handheld.[ATTACH=full]416505[/ATTACH]</blockquote>