Le devenir des sanctuaires paléochrétiens du VII^e au XI^e siècle : les jalons de l'évolution vers le moyen âge central

If it is well known that a lot of new churches were built during the High Middle Ages, the monumental landscape of this period was also marked by the numerous Paleochristian sanctuaries still in use. These last ones have often undergone, then, modifications more or less substantial, regarding their architectural outlines (partial transformation of the fabric, adjunction of annexes, laying out of crypts…) as well as their liturgical settings (supplementary altars, implantation of ciboria, new chancel screens…) as well as their decoration (mainly on the new liturgical settings, precisely ; but sometimes also - and in some buildings among the most prestigious - on the walls, consisting in reliefs in stucco, mosaics or paintings). The study of these cases may be undertaken by referring to textual sources, when they are at disposal ; but also, of course, by observing what it is still preserved, or thanks to the archaeological investigations. This approach appears truly fundamental, in order to understand how occurred - even by anchoring in the tradition firmly established between the 4^th and the 6^th century - a progressive mutation, leading from the first generation of the Christian architecture to the realizations of the Romanesque period.