Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Church of Saint-Aubin de Bazouges-sur-le-Loir, located in the Sarthe department, is a Catholic religious building founded in the 11th century by Benedictine Abbey Saint-Serge d'Angers. It preserves remains of its original nave, including traces of small apparatus, and has never undergone enlargement contrary to certain claims. Its tower tower and its oriented apses date back to the twelfth century, while the limestone gate, probably built towards the end of the same century, bears witness to a slightly later construction campaign.

In the 16th century, the nave was covered with a painted panel, and the structure of the apsides and transept was modified to replace the hollow tiles laid directly on the vaults. Between the 17th and 19th centuries, apentiated bodies were added and reshaped in the alignment of the arms of the transept. The bell tower, initially surmounted by an arrow destroyed by a hurricane in 1825, was then capped with a roof in the pavilion. Several restorations marked the 19th century: the Western portal in 1850 by architect Vivier, the addition of a stand in the nave in 1859 by Paul Lemesle, and the construction of a sacristy around 1894 according to the plans of Pascal Vérité.

Ranked a historic monument in 1862, Saint-Aubin Church illustrates the architectural and liturgical evolution of a religious building over nearly a millennium. His successive transformations, from paintings of the sixteenth century to the consolidation of the frame in 1899 under the direction of Henri Laffillé, reflect the adaptations to the cultural needs and aesthetic norms of each era. The building remains today the property of the municipality of Bazouges-sur-le-Loir, in the region of Pays de la Loire.

External links