The best traffic-free bike rides around Cernay

Of Romanesque origin, the church, surrounded by a cemetery, has a curious bell tower supported by machicolations and uprights of sandstone, making it one of the most unique in the region. Perhaps it was originally a bell gable, later augmented by a platform supported by these machicolations? In front of the entrance, a small building called a "caquetoire" (a small meeting place) allows the faithful to gather and converse. Inside the church, the furnishings date from the 18th and 19th centuries: a marble high altar and its gray-painted wooden altarpiece (18th century) – a painted wooden altarpiece of St. Joseph (late 18th or early 19th century) an altarpiece for the altar of the Virgin Mary (19th century) a baptismal font in red-veined marble (19th century) a waxed wooden pew (18th century) a waxed wooden choir stall upholstered in velvet paintings: the Assumption of the Virgin Mary by Octave Hauser (1839) and the Annunciation (18th century) The stained-glass windows date from 1874. The church and the eclipse A bit of history: The parish, established in the 13th century, was part of the deanery of Courville. The church's patron saint, Luperche or Luperchius, gave his name to the village. We must go back to the 4th century to find the first trace of this saint: At that time, Dacius, governor of the part of Spain that included Catalonia, Aragon, and the Kingdom of Valencia, was one of the most cruel ministers of persecution. Incited by the emperors Diocletian and Maximilian, he had eighteen confessors of Jesus Christ executed in the city of Zaragoza. In their honor, the poet Prudentius wrote hymns, and among these confessors, a certain martyr named Luperche became the patron saint of our church.

At the exit of the village, you will notice the Saint-Aignan church; it was almost entirely rebuilt from 1895 onwards on the foundations of the old church after being destroyed by an unfortunate fire.

Unfortunately, the church was not accessible when I visited (mid-September 2024). You could only look in through a gate and the dance of death depictions on the left side were not really visible. In front of them were transparencies with skeleton drawings. Maybe those were the depictions...

Very beautiful church and the public toilets next to it are perfect, even for filling water bottles too large for the classic sinks.

The Church does not have a transept in its center. Made up of a nave, a bell tower, a heart and a sacristy, the church of Saint Germain le Gaillard was built more “modestly” than its neighbors. Having a stained glass rose window on the west portal, the warm colors of the sunsets pierce the glass to flood the heart of the Church with light. Seven large stained glass windows overlook the interior of the church. On one side we find: the Curé d’Ars; Saint Joseph ; the Child and Mary; Saint Pierre. On the other side Bernadette Soubirous; Jesus before the apostles Peter Jacques and John, Louis IX. But a bay remains, empty, filled by a sheet of Plexiglas. This is where the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist will take place. It is this last stained glass window that we will talk about next.

The church of Ermenonville la Grande dates largely from the end of the Middle Ages. The choir is the most neat part, it has Romanesque buttresses and bays adorned with cut stones. The nave was probably destroyed during the Hundred Years' War. Its reconstruction was not done in the same style and as elaborately as the choir. The walls are composed quite simply with little dressed stone. The north and south walls of the nave had two doors which gave access to the cemetery. The north door was surely blocked at the beginning of the 20th century when the cemetery was moved and the south door was blocked around 1945. These openings were surrounded by a few cut stones and limestone.

The Fruncé church is a green church! It's not obvious at first glance, but you have to take a step back! or rather, the height because in fact, since the summer of 2022, the Mayor has had the roof of the church redone which required work! With a budget of €300,000 that this small town of 400 inhabitants could not afford, the Mayor had the idea of installing solar panels there at the same time! The approximately 7,500€ that this installation brings in makes it possible to reimburse the project but also to avoid inflating the taxes of its inhabitants! well done !

The walls of the nave of the church of Saint-Orien are adorned with paintings from the 15th century, which are surprisingly well preserved. They represent a dance of death, symbolizing the confrontation between humans and death. To have !