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No doubt it is pleasant, but you have to enter it and go around it to situate it in its history. We are here, facing the remains of a priory complex of considerable importance of which the church was the heart.
The priory church dates from the 11th century. It has retained all the elements of its initial plan: the central nave, the cul-de-four choir, the transept crossing with the two current sacristies, with original barrel vaults.
It suffered considerable damage during the English wars. It was restored and enlarged at the beginning of the 15th century, with two aisles and bays with ribbed vaults.
Once again, it suffered damage during the wars of religion: bell tower destroyed, vaults collapsed. The repairs lasted a long time, the stone vault of the central nave, barrel-shaped, was replaced by wooden ceilings.
The windows were also redone and the nave topped with a brick vault without transoms. It is separated from the side aisles by three arcades placed on squat columns.
The 11th century transept has its square framed by large double arches on columns and backsplashes. It is surmounted like the crosspieces devoid of apsidioles (current sacristies) of a very accentuated broken cradle.
The apse, from the same period, semi-circular, covered with a broken kiln-shaped vault, is lit by three also Romanesque openings.
The large door, pierced in a semi-circular arch, was rebuilt in the 19th century, as was the bell tower covered in slate. The facade makeup dates from the same period.
At the entrance to the village, it had a completely different use than meeting the needs of rural domestic life. It is a fountain of devotions.
Practices which only stopped when the fountain was unfortunately moved to the other side of the road, in the last century.
Saint-Étienne had the reputation of curing many illnesses, particularly incontinence and hemorrhages.
from Monday to Friday
from 9AM to 00PM
and from 13:30 p.m. to 17 p.m.
