, as depicted on the enamelled reliquary of
Saint Calmin A monastery was founded here in either 533 or 680 by
Saint Calminius (
Saint Calmin) and his wife, Saint Namadia. Calminius is said to have given the new monastery relics of
Saint Peter, to whom the foundation was dedicated, and of
Saint Caprasius of Agen, brought from
Agen, of which there has long been no trace. From "King Pepin", either
Pepin the Short in 764 or
Pepin II of Aquitaine in 848, the monastery received the relics of
Saint Austremonius, first
bishop of Clermont and responsible for the evangelisation of the Auvergne; the abbey passed under royal protection. These have survived until today and are preserved in a painted wooden casket of the sixteenth century. The
chasse reliquary of Calminius, or Saint Calmin, is one of the outstanding masterpieces of
Limoges enamel. In 1095
Pope Urban II launched the
First Crusade at the
Council of Clermont and at the same time affiliated Mozac to the
Cluniac Order; nevertheless, Mozac was able to retain some of its independence, as it remained an abbey rather than becoming a dependent priory, as were most of Cluny's affiliated houses. The abbey was rebuilt in the early twelfth century. The buildings were severely damaged and largely destroyed in a series of earthquakes between 1477 and 1490, and among the few remains of the
Romanesque architecture that have survived are carved Romanesque capitals (
illustration) that were particularly noted by
Prosper Mérimée in the first assessment of medieval monuments in France: "What renders the church of Mozat [sic] particularly interesting are its capitals, which, for the merit of their execution, may be compared to the best of
Brioude". The rebuilding was carried out in the
Gothic style, using the harder
Volvic stone instead of the limestone of the earlier constructions. From 1516 Mozac was ruled by
commendatory abbots who were not in residence. In 1790 the abbey was dissolved in the
French Revolution. The abbey church survives as the parish church of Mozac. ==Buildings and contents==