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Origin and history

Saint-Pierre d'Épernon Church, located in the Eure-et-Loir department, is a Catholic building whose current construction dates mainly from the 15th century. It replaces a first Romanesque church before the 12th century, some of which remain in the decoration of the facade and under the north bell tower. The building consists of a nave with apse, flanked by two bottoms also finished with apsidioles. The false vaults added in 1885, destroyed during a bombardment in June 1940, revealed 16th-century walled structures decorated with paintings.

Under the altar is a vault discovered in 1940 after the bombing, initially housing the remains of the 3rd Duke of Épernon, Jean-Louis de Goth de Rouillac, his wife Anne Vialard, their son (4th Duke) and a granddaughter, Anne-Marie Louise de Goth. This vault, built between 1661 and 1680, served first as a family burial until 1690, then as an ossuary in 1760 for more than 1,068 skeletons transferred from the bell tower. An archaeological study conducted in 2009 by INRAP revealed two mummified bodies, one of which, originally attributed to Anne-Marie Louise de Goth, proved to be that of Anne Vialard, wife of the 3rd Duke.

Ranked a historical monument in 1942 to facilitate its post-bomb restoration, the church is the only of the five churches of Épernon to have survived the French Revolution. The other religious buildings of the commune were destroyed during this period. The vault, opened to the Revolution to recover coffins of lead, was only reopened twice in the 19th century (1854 and 1885). In 1854, a report mentioned the presence of a mummified body in good condition, then attributed to Anne-Marie Louise de Goth.

The church today belongs to the parish of La Sainte Famille en Voise-Drouette, attached to the dean of the Valley of Eure in the diocese of Chartres. Its architecture thus combines medieval elements (XI–XIII centuries) and late Gothic additions (XV century), while its recent history is marked by the damage of the Second World War and the archaeological discoveries that resulted from it.

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