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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Saint-Maclou d'Ars, located in the Charente department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, is a religious building dating back to the 12th century. Its unique nave of 24 meters, extended by a semicircular apse, bears witness to this medieval period. The western facade, crowned with a bell tower-wall, preserves a multi-vessure portal decorated with geometric and vegetal sculptures, typical of Poitevin Romanesque art. The criminal columnettes and the leafy rinsing capitals, where carved heads appear, illustrate the refinement of its original decor.

Between the 15th and 16th centuries, the church underwent important transformations with the addition of three side chapels. That of the Virgin, in the north, is the first built, followed by around 1536 by two symmetrical chapels financed by the family of Bremond d'Ars, whose coats of arms still adorn the arch keys. These chapels, whose northern one serves as a family burial, modify the original Latin cross plan to adopt a rectangular two-nave shape. An inscription on a keystone attests to the date of 1536 and the sponsor Nicolas Brémond d'Ars.

In the 18th century, the church experienced a new beautification with a rich liturgical layout: a stone bentier carved from acanthe leaves, gilded altarpieces, and panelling carved in the choir. The current bell tower, a square stone tower, replaces the old campanile bays accessible by a staircase carved in the triangular gable of the facade. The murals discovered under the lime bandage, such as the funeral liters or the Bremond coat of arms, reveal traces of successive decorations. A 13th century monolithic baptismal tank, decorated with historiated scenes (Christ in Glory, Saint Peter, allegories of vices), is a remarkable element of furniture.

Ranked a historic monument in 1981, the church enjoyed a major restoration between 1985 and 2000, thus preserving its architectural and artistic heritage. The modern porch partially masking the western facade protects a portal with four voussures with various motifs (losanges, half-beans, triangles), framed by plant capitals. The apse, flanked by foothills, preserves five windows surmounted by a carved cord, while the nave and bottom side are covered with a mesh. Nearby, the former 17th century presbytery, with a polygonal tower, now houses the town hall.

The furniture elements, such as the 17th century benigner or the golden wooden tabernacle, complement this heritage, while Latin inscriptions remind the memory of the members of the Bremond family buried in the building. The Church of Saint-Maclou, through its successive transformations, illustrates the evolution of architectural styles and religious practices in Charente, from the Middle Ages to the modern era.

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