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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Jacques de Chemiré-sur-Sarthe, located in the department of Maine-et-Loire, is a religious building whose parish was formed in the middle of the 11th century. The present church, with a single nave with a flat bedside choir, was built in the middle of the 14th century. This first building, typical of local medieval architecture, reflected the spiritual and community needs of a rural population organized around the parish.

In the 17th century, a altarpiece dating from 1629 was installed in the choir, testifying to the artistic and liturgical enrichment of the building. Threatened by the ruin in the 1770s, the church was the subject of a major restoration campaign between 1779 and 1787, led by architect Simon. This work included the reconstruction of the nave's walled structure, thus preserving the medieval structure while adapting it to the norms of the time.

The church was classified as a Historical Monument in 1926 and was then fully protected by a decree of 19 September 2002. This double status underlines its heritage importance, both for its architecture and for its furniture, as the retable of the seventeenth century. Today, it remains a testimony of architectural and religious developments in Anjou, from the Middle Ages to the modern period.

The location of the building, in Daumeray (comune of Morannes sur Sarthe-Daumeray), in a territory marked by agriculture and river exchanges via the Sarthe, recalls the central role of parish churches. The latter served as a place of worship, but also as a gathering for a rural community whose life was punctuated by seasons and religious holidays.

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