The church of Notre-Dame de l’Assomption stands on a hill, a little away from the village of Chauvigny from which it is separated by the cemetery. It is built on the site of a former priory dependent on the abbey of Marmoutier, founded between 1116 and 1136 by Barthélemy de Vendôme. In 1342, Marmoutier abandoned the priory to the bishop of Chartres while retaining the appointment to the parish.
It is a large church, whose initial core, probably from the 12th century (?), was considerably enlarged in the 16th, then in the 19th century. Originally, it consisted of a single nave supported by buttresses, whose flat chevet was later pierced by a large window with a pointed arch axis. In the 16th century, a first aisle was added to the south, separated from the central nave by four semicircular arches resting on circular pillars. In the 17th century, the choir was shortened by the erection of the large altarpiece of the high altar which isolates the space of a sacristy. Finally, in 1860-1863, the church was again enlarged by the construction of a north aisle, identical to the one that existed to the south. The district architect Édouard Marganne, responsible for this enlargement, also designed a new western façade in order to harmonize the gable walls of the three naves.
The church is distinguished by a large set of paneling covering the walls of the three sanctuaries. Seventy-seven sculpted panels from the 16th and 17th centuries are inserted there, representing biblical characters and scenes from the life of Christ. As indicated by an inscription in the south chapel, they were donated to the parish in 1938, after the destruction of the chapel of the Château de la Gaudinière, which stood in the Fréteval forest. They were apparently brought back from Menton in 1867 by the Duke of La Rochefoucauld to adorn his château, which was then under construction. The church also preserves a small stone group from the 16th century representing the education of the Virgin, a painted wooden Saint Gildéric from the 17th century, and a beautiful portrait of Mgr Fleuriau d’Armenonville, Bishop of Orléans, commemorating his solemn entry into the city of Orléans in 1707.
To participate in the restoration of the church roof, the Sauvegarde de l’Art français granted a donation of €5,000 in 2011.
Translated by Google •
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