The best road cycling routes around Val-Au-Perche

Religious building dating back to the 11th century and expanded during the Renaissance. The first parish church of Nogent-le-Rotrou dates back to the 11th century, and its expansion dates from the 15th and 16th centuries. Beautiful bell tower topped with a lantern surrounded by an ornate gallery.

The Church of Saint-Pierre, under the Ancien Régime, part of the deanery of Bellême, in the diocese of Sées, is located in the heart of the village of Saint-Pierre-la-Bruyère, in the Perche region. This building features a relatively high nave, surmounted by a slate bell tower, extending into a square-plan choir, much lower, flanked by a rectangular chapel to the south. The façade is supported by four powerful buttresses that appear to date from the late Middle Ages. It features a basket-handle lintel entrance door, dating from the late Gothic period. This door replaced a Romanesque doorway whose semicircular arch appears above the Gothic opening. It is surmounted by a pointed window. The northern drip wall is flanked, where it meets the western façade, by a brick staircase turret leading to the attic. The nave was built in the Romanesque period, as evidenced by the small round-arched windows in the upper part of the north drip wall. The bell tower is supported by four posts set within the nave's volume behind the façade wall. The three bays delimited by these posts are covered by a plastered wooden vault, lower than the nave vault, built in the 18th century. The triumphal arch is quite small. It is flanked by two finely crafted stone altarpieces. The choir is adorned with a large stone altarpiece with three sides delimited by four columns, surmounted by a richly decorated cornice crowned with fire pots. The high altar and side altars, in the same style, were built after the episcopal visit of 1706. They are a representative example of the quality of the renovations carried out in Percheron churches in the 17th and 18th centuries. A seigneurial chapel, built in the late 15th or early 16th centuries to the south of the choir, was converted into a sacristy between 1701 and 1706, to satisfy the observations made during the episcopal visitations. The arch opening onto the choir was walled up for this purpose. Aside from the altarpieces, the church contains few furnishings: an 18th-century stone Virgin Mary and a 16th-century baptismal font. The Sauvegarde de l'Art Français (French Art Protection Agency) granted €4,000 in grants in 2005 for the restoration of the roof.

The Notre-Dame parish church, formerly the presentation of the Saint-Vincent abbey in Le Mans, is a beautiful building measuring 30 m in total length. The various stages of its construction in the 15th, 16th and 18th centuries. took nothing away from its interest. The pointed arch windows which light the choir have partly flamboyant tracery which belongs to the end of the Gothic period. The nave communicates with the aisles via large semi-circular arches. Between the northern side chapels rises the bell tower covered with a gable roof. On the south side there are three side chapels. The nave and the choir have a beautiful exposed framework in the shape of an inverted ship's hull. The current poor state of the roof has led to problems with this framework. The church itself is not protected, but has a high altar, a tabernacle, and an altarpiece from the 17th century. classified as Historic Monuments. A baptistery with its balustrade, also from the 17th century, and a Louis XVI period lectern complete this furniture. For the repair of the roof of the chapels and the north side of the nave, the Safeguarding of French Art granted two grants of 100,000 F in 1992 and 1994.

The old village church was partly destroyed by fire in 1720; it was rebuilt in the 1780s but without decoration. All of the painted decorations were executed between 1863 and 1865: the scenes and figures by Dubois and the ornamental decoration by Goislard under the direction of Louis Bodin, Count of Galembert. This vast program was sponsored by the allied families of Vanssay and Galembert and the priest Toizard; the factory participated for 5448F. The church was consecrated by Monseigneur Fillion, bishop of Le Mans, on September 5, 1865. (inventory of the heritage of the Pays de la Loire region) A black marble plaque engraved with the names of 30 soldiers per year was inserted into the wall paintings of this church, under the Crucifixion.

The current building dates from the 15th century, however the building seems to be built from remains of the castle chapel. The town was destroyed during the Hundred Years' War in 1428. It was the subject of major work after 1450. Significant work took place thereafter, until the 19th century. The building was registered as a historic monument on March 24, 1975.

Of Romanesque origin, it houses several works classified as objects. It was built in several stages: in the 12th and 13th centuries, as evidenced by its counter-broken porch visible after passing the first door of the bell tower, then in the 15th and 16th centuries with the construction of the bell tower, the opening of fitted side doors in the foothills (unique in the region), and its widening to the south with the opening of two Renaissance style bays with stained glass windows listed in 1905, representing Saint Michael and his two donors, Saint Catherine in the center with the reconstituted coats of arms of a seigneurial family of La Rouge: the Le Roy de Chavigny, finally a pietà. The church played a protective role for its population during peasant revolts but also during banditry. It was equipped with a high square bell tower with four windows at its top to monitor the surroundings, a bretèche above the main portal and an airlock for its two side doors protected by its thick buttresses. The apse is flat as in many small country churches. Two windows were opened to the north to provide more light in 1790. After the revolutionary turmoil, a 17th century altarpiece (classified in 1968) from the Récollets de Cherré near La Ferté-Bernard was installed.

The church is dedicated to Saint Martin. Its nave is paneled. You can see an altarpiece from the 17th Century there. The square bell tower has a plaque in its tower dated 1618 and engraved letters. The sundial is dated 1605. We can read the sentence: Christ directs the stars.

The church is cited from the year 1000. Jouin was a hermit and monk, founder of Ension Abbey in the 15th century, venerated as an apostle of the west. It is made up of 4 aligned chapels. Its beautiful entrance porch is in Renaissance style with Florentine decor. On the bell tower there is a cross on each side surmounted by a rooster and the other by a hen. If you ask the inhabitants of Dancé why, they will answer you with a smile and a play on words: “because it takes two to dance” The altarpiece dates from the 18th century and the sacristy door is in the Louis XIII style. The choir has a large wooden altar painted in the Louis XV style. In the heart appears a wall plaque in memory of Blessed Jacques Jean Lemeunier (1747-1792), vicar in Dancé from 1783 to 1786. We can see a statue of Saint Barbara in polychrome terracotta. The modern stained glass windows are by Paul Bony.