Although the interior is almost devoid of sculpted ornamentation and features few remarkable works of art or furnishings, it is distinguished by a highly original wooden coffered ceiling: 1,360 squares probably painted in the 18th century with polychrome motifs, simple in style but imbued with Christian symbols.

The history of the Saint-Léger church in Cheylade remains shrouded in uncertainty, despite some research, of which the 2004 booklet published by the Valrhue association[nb 1] offers the most recent assessment.

[2] By the 9th century, however, the conditions appeared to be right: the sparse population of the Petite Rhue valley had grown sufficiently to justify a parish church in the eyes of the bishopric,[3] and the lords of "Chaszlada",[nb 2] from the powerful Nonette family, had the means to finance its construction.

[10] Right up until the end of the 14th century, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War and despite the Treaty of Brétigny, English armed bands scoured the Auvergne, occupying the Petite Rhue valley as early as 1357.

Either the church remained in ruins after the English raids,[12][13] or it underwent repairs, which could be indicated by the fact that in 1368, two lords of the valley asked John, Duke of Berry for authorization to affix their shields to it:[17][18] in any case, the Treaty of Brétigny was not enough to stem the chaos in the region,[19] and it was only a century later, thanks to economic and demographic recovery, that it was enlarged,[20] if not raised.

[21] A renowned architect active in Auvergne, Pierre Levesville, was called in: Contracts signed with the Toulouse notary Parrouton prove that he supervised the work from May 11, 1610, to March 27, 1614, directing the stonemasons himself but delegating a certain Jean Tardieu, master mason, to oversee the supply of stones, sand, lime and flagstones.

[24][25] Regarding the decoration of the coffering, Louis Baritou, whose historical monograph devotes little space to the church, believes they are contemporary with these major 17th-century works, citing ceilings of the same type found in the Maison Consulaire in Montauban and the Chapelle des Pénitents Bleus in Toulouse, also by Levesville.

Popular memory and nineteenth-century documents place his intervention around 1740, based on an inscription -"finis opus 1743"[nb 4]-[26][27] which would have been covered up in 1884: that year, in fact, the construction of two false towers and a tribune in the west end of the church caused dozens of the original 1,428 caissons to disappear.

Until the French Revolution, Cheylade belonged to this bishopric, while the land of Valrus, sold in 1592 by bishop François de La Rochefoucauld,[nb 7] had various owners before being seized as national property.

[nb 8][32] The age-old custom of depositing provisions in front of the presbytery on the eve of Saint Léger's feast day, so that he could grant the community's wishes, was still attested to in the mid-19th century by Henri Durif.

[39] The two-bay rib-vaulted porch, still lined with its narrow stone benches, bears in its center an escutcheon marked ITIS ("In Terra Ierusalem Socii"[nb 10]), recalling the participation of the valley's inhabitants in the First Crusade.

[40] The arcades linking the choir to the apsidioles rest on small columns, some of whose shafts have been rebuilt in trachyte, and whose interlaced capitals are occasionally surmounted by horizontal cords.

[44] Listed as a historical monument are the soberly sculpted 15th-century granite stoup,[25] the trachyte baptismal font, which has been restored several times, a late 14th-century wooden Christ on the Cross, and the statue of Saint Léger to the left of the choir.

This oak effigy, covered in color and gold, dates from the 15th century, but its arms, holding a book and an episcopal crosier, perhaps in place of the instruments of his torture, are not original.

[47] In 1902, Adolphe de Rochemonteix called for the preservation of a work that was both rudimentary and unique in the département:[25] in fact, it is essentially to its ceiling that Saint-Léger church owes its listing as a historic monument in 1927, followed by its classification on February 11, 1963.

[45][48] The 1,360 caissons still visible – 560 in the central nave and 400 in each of the side aisles[24] – date from well after the building's construction, but fit in all the better for having been frescoed in colors in harmony with the stone: little green, but blue, black and the whole palette of ochres.

[51] The Cheylade vaults also feature a number of exotic and/or fantastical animals: the lion or other felines, stylized in profile as in heraldry, or even with a dragon's tail, can evoke "both the creative force and, in the Psalms, pride or the devil".

A heart placed on a hand is a sign of honesty and frankness: one of Cheylade's caissons features this motif in its "flaming" form, with five red lines sprouting from the top.

[57] The heart, topped by three black arrows and encircled by a garland, is also part of this cult that emerged in the 17th century – unless this element, also brandished by a figure holding a large cross, symbolizes exchange and union with God.

[59] Without claiming to unravel all the mysteries of these paintings, Pascale Built-Werner observes that they obey a principle of symmetry, reproducing at different scales the idea of balance in a Christian conception of the world.

[60] Far from the blue ceilings strewn with stars, a frequent substitute for the celestial vault, Cheylade's caissons offer the image of the world in its order and beautiful diversity:[50] they bear witness to the admiring gaze of the creature on Creation, suggesting its eternal cycle (animals in motion, flowers in bud/blooming, spring flowers/autumn grapes).