The best traffic-free bike rides around Nogent-Sur-Eure

The Romanesque church of Saint George was rebuilt in 1540 after a fire destroyed it during the conflicts between the French, English, and Burgundians. It is said that the villagers took refuge in the church, especially in the tower, and that the English did not hesitate to set it ablaze. The two bells, dating from 1816, and a beam bearing the carpenters' names are listed as historical monuments. Exploring the village, you will discover several ponds and old water pumps, a Caesar's Way (Chemin d'Arcé), and a wood.

According to tradition, the church choir covers the remains of an older building, possibly dating back to the 6th century, which was built to house the saint's body. According to current knowledge, the commune of Saint-Piat (Sanctus Piatus in Latin) officially appeared in 1087, mentioned in a charter of the Nottonville Priory (Eure-et-Loir), on which it depended. The current building was rebuilt during the time of Francis I, as suggested by the date 1535 engraved on two buttresses of the apse and the date 1542 engraved on a piece of wood from the vault. This is according to a study by the SAEL (Eure-et-Loir Archaeological Society). The three-sided apses, the dripstone towers (horizontal members projecting from a wall), and the sculpted roof structures are a testament to the importance of the reconstructions carried out in the department during the 16th century. The church of Saint-Piat is one of them. While the church has not been officially recognized, it nevertheless contains objects that have attracted attention both for their antiquity and quality, but not always for good reason. Their artistic value, far from attracting only religious or aesthetic interest, has also aroused a covetousness that, unfortunately, remains for some of them. Fortunately, those still in place are carefully cared for and offer the curious a story to discover, a beauty to slowly ponder as they progress toward the choir.

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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...

Historically, our small medieval Romanesque church, dedicated to Saint Silvanus, was an integral part of a lordship. We can, still today, guess the vestiges of the seigniorial coat of arms on the liter (the banner) located just below the windows on the north face. Located near the old castle moat, the cemetery flanked it, on the north side in place of the current car park and the multi-purpose room, on the south side at the level of the green space currently planted with lime trees. Originally only the central building existed and the bell tower topped it in its center. This is the reason why at the beginning of the 1980s, the framework began to collapse, weakened by the weight and the marks of time left by the old bell tower. This renovation proved, if necessary, through the design of the framework, the existence of the central bell tower. The time when the bell tower was moved off-center is at the end of the 16th century, beginning of the 17th century. Concerning the creation of the sacristy and the side chapels, the departmental archives hold a plan of the church, dated August 19, 1853 which clearly indicates the existence of the sacristy and only the north chapel, the construction of the South chapel was therefore not concomitant. In the masonry, the small Romanesque windows can still be seen, the only one remaining, unwalled, opens to the east and still today offers a light entrance into the apse. Around the church we notice two types of buttresses, the first, the narrower ones date from the creation of the building, the more massive ones date from the 18th century, placed as reinforcements Neo-classicism at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century left its mark on this building. Outside, as we have seen, by the addition of the sacristy as well as the small side chapels now forming a transept.

Built at the beginning of the 20th century, it was consecrated in 1903. It replaced an old 12th century church, contemporary with a convent of which only the chapel dedicated to the three Marys remains today. It is decorated with stained glass windows by master glassmaker Lorin: three windows (on the right) are dedicated to the appearance of Christ to the Saints Mary and three windows (on the left) to the apparitions of the Virgin at La Salette in the Alps in Isère in 1846. The patron saints of the church, Saint Gervais and Saint Protais appear on the stained glass windows of the choir. In 2003 the centenary of the church was celebrated and in 2004, two glass roofs, made by the Petit workshops of La Bourdinière Saint Loup, were mounted on the second level of the nave: the resurrection of Lazarus and the healing of the paralytic. It preserves an organ from 1892, by the maker Louis Delierre, from Nantes. The church of Mignières receives pilgrims faithful to the three holy Marys of the Gospel (Marie-Jacobé, Marie-Magdeleine and Marie-Salomé) on May 22, July 22 and October 22.

The nave was built in the middle of the 12th century, as indicated by the Romanesque door under the bell tower, on the site of the first church destroyed in 858 by Hasting. The bell tower was built at the end of the 12th century. 18.40 m long by 8.75 m wide, it was flanked by eight chapels destroyed during the fire of March 15, 1568, as well as a large part of the building (after the passage of the Huguenots). Only two of these chapels have been preserved: on the left, it houses the baptismal funds with the statue of the Sacred Heart and on the right the old confessional. The building was next to the Saints Pères farm which depended on the Saint-Pierre de Chartres abbey, very powerful in the 12th century. It was undoubtedly a place of prayer very frequented by numerous monks, hence the number of chapels. After the fire of 1568, the lord of Ver, Messire BELOT, raised the destroyed part in 1572 and added an extension to the east, 14.50 m long and 8.75 m wide; two ogival windows illuminated this new part, while an immense wooden altarpiece masked the apse. In 1850, Father PROUST had the five neo-Gothic windows pierced which light the choir and it was the LORIN workshop which installed the glass roofs and the stained glass window of the apse. Finally, the chapel of the Holy Virgin was erected in 1866 by this same priest. The vault was renovated in 1980; Made from chestnut strips, it is the work of Mr. PELTIER, former companion of the Tour de France. The curiosity remains the sundial, on the interior facade above the entrance door, a dial which faces east. The patron saint of the parish is Saint Victur (or Victor), former bishop of Le Mans, represented by one of the statues near the old altar, while Saint Roch and Saint Barbara watch over the side chapels, near the fonts. On each side of the old altar, two shrines contain the relics of Saint Victur on the right and Saint Facundi Marcellus on the left. In the chapel of the Holy Virgin, two statues frame the altar: Mary, child with her mother Saint Anne and Jesus child carrying the world while the Virgin sits above with Jesus. This chapel receives light through three stained glass windows which represent the mysteries of the Rosary: joyful, painful and glorious mysteries, coming from the Carmelites of Le Mans. The central altar is from 1983; on the facade, the sculpted frieze of the Lamb comes from the old altar of the Carmelites of Chartres, given to the parish of Ver and which had become too dilapidated. Mr. COLAS, craftsman, carried out this beautiful work. To the left of the nave, opposite the pulpit, a wooden altarpiece frames Our Lady of Lourdes, while at Mary's feet, Saint Joan of Arc and little Thérèse of Lisieux keep watch. Opposite them, Saint Anthony of Padua searches with the stunned. Near the sacristy door, an altar is dedicated to the good Saint Joseph.

The Saint-Germain de Morancez church could date from the 10th century. Its cut stone facade is punctuated by four buttresses framing a portal. This is composed of three concentric arches resting on engaged columns, decorated with capitals. The zigzag decoration of the arches confirms a dating before the 12th century. The occulus surmounting the porch illuminates a semi-circular vaulted nave. This was enlarged with an aisle built much later and where there is an altar dedicated to the Virgin. The furniture remains simple but not without interest with its benches enclosed in painted wood. However, it is worth mentioning a sculpted pulpit from the 18th century. In 1707, the prior-parish priest of Morancez was Nicolas Courvoisier, religious of the Saint-Jean-en-Vallée abbey. A poet, he is notably the author of a Latin ode addressed to the people of Chartres on the death of Paul de Godet des Marais1. He died on May 14, 1742 in Morancez and was buried in the church. (his tombstone remains to be identified.) Although Morancez was a modest parish, in 1851 it benefited from a prestigious gift from Jérôme Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon I, governor of Les Invalides, then in residence at the Château de Gourdez. He offered the church a painting, Moses makes water flow from the rock, painted by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli between 1657 and 1660. This Italian artist had been called to decorate the cabinet called "At the water's edge" of the apartment of Queen Anne of Austria at the Louvre. He created a decor, now dismembered, composed of a set of six paintings devoted to the story of Moses, including the work, classified as a Historic Monument, preserved in our church. Another interesting work which could be attributed to the school of Philippe de Champaigne represents Jesus among the doctors. These two paintings benefited from a restoration in 1998