The Saint Hilaire church is a vast building from the end of the 11th or 12th century which originally consisted of only a nave with choir and semi-circular apse supported by slightly protruding buttresses made of grison, an extremely hard ferruginous agglomerate which does not allow any work. of sculpture.
You can see the primitive work in the walls of the nave and the choir with its small windows and the exterior buttresses in gray. Its appearance was considerably modified during the Renaissance period, when a transept was added, then during a second campaign of transformations, the small side chapels of the choir covered with ribbed vaults with vines and tiers which would have had to be topped with a pavilion roof.
The entire monument is covered with a paneled vault with visible beams and hallmarks; above the sanctuary the shingle decorated with arabesques and painted cherubs' heads bears the date 1561.
In the 17th century, like many churches of the time, the glass roof at the bottom of the apse was closed to build an altarpiece then fashionable, as it is today with the woodwork that accompanies it.
On the west side of the north transept, above the small shed, we can clearly see in the masonry a stone arch which is perhaps the beginning of the cloister mentioned in the archives.
In addition to the charm of its Renaissance parts, this church is fortunate to have beautiful furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries which preserves the appearance it had under the Ancien Régime: a lectern dated 1754, modified in 1784 with a antiphonary and a Chartres gradual from 1784. It is in perfect condition, as the cantors must have used it before the revolution. Another valuable piece, the solid oak work bench, cleaned a few years ago of the paint with which it had been decorated, and which now serves as an altar to meet the new standards of the liturgy for the mass facing the faithful.
Translated by Google •
In the know? Log-in to add a tip for other adventurers!