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Origin and history

The Basilica of Saint-Maurice d'Epinal, located in the Vosges, finds its origins in the 10th century when Bishop Gérard de Toul erected a first church at the request of Thierry I of Metz, local lord. This religious place, originally dedicated to Saint Maurice, welcomed both Benedictine monks and faithful. A miracle would have marked the translation of the relics of Saint Goery, reported by the bishop and columnist Widric. In the south, a cloister and the first Spinalian cemetery (present-day place of being) completed the whole. In the middle of the 11th century Bishop Adalberon II installed Benedictine nuns there under the patronage of Saint Goery, replacing the missing monks.

A major reconstruction took place in the 11th century under the impetus of Pope Leo IX, who consecrated a new Romanesque church. The walls of the nave, still visible today, date from this time, while the lower side is added in the thirteenth century. This century also saw the replacement of nuns with a chapter of canonesses, which lasted until the Revolution. The choir is redesigned, a northern portal (known as "the entrance of the bourgeois") is opened, and the vaulted nave. The church, once again parish, houses an altar dedicated to the faithful at the east end.

In the 19th century, Abbé Boullangier and architect Léon Charles Grilllot undertook a major restoration after the classification of 1846. The belfry tower is equipped with a neo-Roman portal, and works preserve the carved decoration of the bourgeois gate (XIII century), partially destroyed in 1793 but restored under the direction of Émile Boeswillwald. On February 20, 1933, the church was elevated to the rank of minor basilica by Pope Pius XI, marking its spiritual importance. Later restorations in the 20th century highlight its architectural peculiarities, such as the disoriented apsidioles or the reliquaries of Saints Goery, Auger and Maurice d'Agaune.

The building is distinguished by its chorus with disoriented apsidioles (45° compared to the axis), a rarity in Romanesque art comparable to some churches in Champagne or Burgundy. The portal of the bourgeois (XIIIe), decorated with sculptures including a Virgin with a polychrome Child, bears witness to her dual role: entrance of parishioners (north) and canonesses (south, via the cloister). The massive tower (30 m), with its spiral staircase and belfry, dominates the city. Inside, an 18th-century organ, reliquaries and a painting by Nicolas Bellot (XVIIe) representing the Passion illustrate his rich heritage.

The basilica embodies almost a thousand years of religious and urban history. First Benedictine monastery, then collegiate of canonesses, it becomes parish church before its elevation in basilica. Its architecture combines Romanesque influences (Nef of the XIth) and Gothic influences (voûts, portal), while its decorations—like the carved heads preserved at the Musée d'Epinal—remember its medieval past. Ranked as early as 1846, it remains a symbol of the diocese of Saint-Dié and a testimony of Lorrain piety, between cult of relics and community life.

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