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Villages / Valais / Conthey district / Saint-Séverin

Saint-Séverin

Canton of Valais · District: Conthey · No published figure for the locality; the municipality of Conthey has 9'658 inhabitants (31.12.2025, provisional FSO figure)
Part of the municipality of Conthey
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Must-see historical sites Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Saint-Séverin

The village bears the name of its church, dedicated to Saint Severinus. It is not known since when the name has also referred to the village.[2]

Founding of Saint-Séverin

Saint-Séverin is a village in the municipality of Conthey, among the vineyards between the Bourg and Sensine, at 600 m. Together with the neighbouring medieval borough, it forms one of the two cores of the Conthey-Bourg site. The village developed around its Romanesque church, at first a chapel of ease of the Plan-Conthey church. In the late 18th and the 19th century, winegrowers' houses were built near the church.[2][4]

History of Saint-Séverin

1120-1150. The church of Saint-Séverin is built, dated by dendrochronology to the second quarter of the 12th century. It then faces the other way, with its apse where the entrance porch now stands.[1][2]

late 12th century. Under the bishop's patronage, the church becomes a parish church.[1]

around 1700. The Romanesque apse is replaced by a square choir, consecrated in 1722 (the church was reportedly rebuilt around 1695 according to another source).[2][5]

1844. The church is enlarged and reoriented into its present form (in 1845 according to another source, when parish priest Massy moved the choir to the west). From 1844 to 1847, Wendelin Walpen builds the organ.[2][3][5]

1912. The cemetery is moved to the north side of the church.[5]

1924. A home economics school operates in the village.[7]

1929. The parish of Erde is created for the upper villages, separated from Saint-Séverin (1928 according to another source). Until then, the church served most of Conthey's inhabitants.[1][3][5]

1989-1992. The church is restored. Archaeological work uncovers the 12th-century Romanesque church.[2][3][5]

Historic sites in Saint-Séverin

Church of Saint-Séverin. The 12th-century Romanesque church remains visible inside the building enlarged in 1844. The bell tower, left unplastered, is one of the best-preserved old buildings in Conthey. The stained glass is by Paul Monnier. The church and a group of old houses are listed as cultural property of regional importance (B object).[3][5][6]

Winegrowers' houses. Near the church stand winegrowers' houses from the late 18th and the 19th century, including a house of 1824 and others dated 1839 and 1872.[2]

Sources

  1. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Conthey (commune) » (François Wiblé, Maurice Terrettaz), version du 11.08.2005
  2. Inventaire fédéral des sites construits (ISOS), « Conthey-Bourg / Saint-Séverin », commune de Conthey, 2e version, novembre 1997
  3. Commune de Conthey, « Vestiges historiques »
  4. Commune de Conthey, « Les villages »
  5. Office du tourisme Conthey-Région, « Les églises & chapelles »
  6. Office fédéral de la protection de la population (OFPP), Inventaire PBC, liste cantonale du Valais (objets A et B)
  7. Commune de Conthey, « Images à Conthey, vingtième siècle », liste des légendes de photographies, 1999
  8. Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), STATPOP, chiffres provisoires au 31.12.2025, via citypopulation.de
  9. geo.admin.ch, recherche de lieux de swisstopo (Saint-Séverin)

Other villages near Saint-Séverin

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