Eglise Notre Dame

The short, thin slate spire curiously anchored on the ridge of the austere bell tower that dominates the crossing only slightly refines the powerful silhouette of the church of Notre-Dame. Of imposing dimensions, the nave, originally without aisles, dates back to the 11th century as shown by a round-headed door (blocked) on the north side and the remains of an antefix cross on the gable of the façade. This nave was divided into three vessels in 1896. Built with care, but not without dryness, in the late Gothic style, the three rib-vaulted bays of the central nave occupy almost all of the space, leaving only narrow aisles covered with transversally arranged cradles. But it is the eastern parts that make Notre-Dame so interesting. Built around 1230, the transept and the choir were indeed built with great refinement. One can admire in particular the extreme elegance of the seven-sided apse and note that fine columns almost systematically underline, both inside and outside, the window jambs, while blind arcatures cover the lower part of the walls of the southern crosspiece. Consisting of simple lancets, the windows are associated in a triplet on the façade of the southern crosspiece, while a single relieving arch joins two of them to that of the northern crosspiece, according to a pattern that is beginning to spread at that time and that, associated with an oculus in the upper part, will lead to the Gothic compound window. As it should be at that time, the capitals are with hooks blossoming into leaves, but some faces and chimerical figures can also be seen on those of the transept crossing. Important works will affect the church in the 16th century. The bell tower was rebuilt, the arches of the crossing were redone and two additional ribs were added to the vault of the northern crossing. At the same time, a seigniorial chapel was built to the south of the choir, in the same Renaissance style as the bell tower. Its two short bays are decorated with lierne vaults, tiercerons and hanging keys falling on Ionic capitals. Quite spectacular, the ensemble nevertheless gives an impression of heaviness given the smallness of the space. Dominique Vermand