The best traffic-free bike rides around Mainvilliers

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.

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The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Chartres

A dream of a cathedral 🥰 you should definitely visit it at two different times of the day, as the glass windows look completely different depending on the position of the sun - phenomenal

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

The village has a Gothic style church. The latter is approximately 32 m long and 8.5 m wide. The church was renovated a few years ago and the eastern facade has recently been lit at night. According to the departmental archives of Eure-et-Loir, the general council granted a credit of 30,000 francs in 1851, in order to have “MM. the department's travel agents the nomenclature of churches, presbyteries and other municipal buildings, briefly containing their description, their condition, the indication and approximate evaluation of the work to be done and their degree of urgency.

Composed of a Romanesque nave with flat buttresses placed symmetrically on each side (typical of the end of the 11th century or the first half of the 12th century), it was completely remodeled in the 16th century and the end of the 20th century. The bays of the nave are from the 15th century, in flamboyant Gothic style, as is the rose window. The span of the bell tower and the choir, with ribbed vaults, date from the end of the 15th or beginning of the 16th century. As early as the 16th century, the bell tower had a clock, quite rare and expensive for the time. The pillars of the central bay are richly molded and crowned with thin bands of foliage serving as capitals. The windows are decorated with flamboyant tracery of varied designs. The Romanesque portal was also remodeled in the 16th century. The powerful central bell tower with buttresses [formerly had three bells named PIC DAN JON. There will only be one left after the Revolution, the other two having been melted down to make cannons and ammunition.

The Saint-Pierre church bears within itself the testimony of the centuries by the successive contribution of what they had the possibility of offering of the most truly sacred, it appears in its harmonious silhouette at the crossroads of two great natural regions, Beauce and the Perch. A living work, injured several times but restored, it is more beautiful now than it ever was. Rebuilt at the end of the 15th century, the Saint-Pierre church has been classified as a "Historic Monument" since 1907. It has two chapels, one of which, under the imposing bell tower bearing the date 1620, forms the Latin cross. A major restoration campaign has been carried out in recent years. The roof has been completely redone, preserving the original framework. The western window blocked at the beginning of the 19th century has been restored, a new stained glass window restores its nobility. The church offers a remarkable interior, in particular its imposing altarpiece and a statue of the Trinity, both listed as heritage sites.