We often assimilate medieval architecture with monochrome buildings, austere and cold. It is forgotten that in the middle ages churches were not complete for services unless they were painted - with the exception of the cisterciens whose architecture was naked of all decoration.

The iconographical programmes elaborated in the paintings have a didactic importance beyond a purely decorative function.

The wall paintings are therefore an essential element in middle age art, it is in this respect that the Centre of Roman Art Marcel Durliat decided to assemble a documentary and photographic collection on medieval art. This project began in 1996 with the constitution of a photographic corpus including more than one thousand pictures, as complete as possible, of the medieval wall paintings originating in the Quercy. The Centre will continue over the next two years to complete the photographic inventary of the middle age wall paintings of the whole Midi-Pyrénées area.

The composition of this corpus is of great interest :

- firstly for the pictures themselves, as they provide precious witness to the condition of the paintings concerned.

- for the researchers working on medieval wall paintings; who are becoming more and more numerous. The study of wall paintings is an important research subject within the history of middle age art to this day. Students and researchers have at their disposition a precious catalogue of pictures.

Through the constitution of this corpus, the Centre Marcel Durliat reponds to its principle objective : the contribution to a better understanding of medieval art, in particular the art of colour.