The best traffic-free bike rides around Fontenay-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...

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

The church of Barjouville, without a transept, only includes a nave extended by a narrower choir. The north wall of the nave, with three small round-arched windows, dates from the 13th century. But this oldest sanctuary was burned, along with many others in the region, by the mercenaries of the Huguenot army on March 15, 1568 when they had to lift the siege of the city of Chartres, due to a truce, while they were about to enter through a breach made near the Drouaise gate. The reconstruction lasted almost thirty years (the village was poor) and ended with the installation of the bell, melted in August 1598; it is one of the oldest in the department. To the south, the nave is lit by three bays of different sizes and the choir by two others. The bedside, flat, has three semi-circular bays equipped with stained glass windows installed by the Lorin workshops in 1873 and representing the Sacred Heart, Saint James the Major and Saint Laumer. In one of the bays of the choir, fragments of stained glass have been grouped into two square panels, one representing Saint Nicholas and the three children saved from the salt room and the other, undoubtedly, Saint Christopher carrying the child Jesus on his shoulders to cross the river. Note two statues of Saint James which could be from the 16th century and a Saint Leonard, unfortunately covered with a brown wash. Three processional sticks carry naive-style statues of the Virgin, Saint James and Saint Christopher. Finally, a large painting, which hung at the back of the church, is currently being restored. It is a copy, probably from the 17th century, of a “Madonna and Child with Saint Anne” from 1610 by Carlo Saraceni, the original of which is in the National Museum of Rome (Palace Barberini). Work should soon take place to secure the roof and the bell tower and remove the false ceiling which distorts the interior proportions of the church.