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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The cemetery cross of Bueil-en-Touraine is a historic stone monument erected in the 16th century. It is distinguished by its octagonal structure, adorned with a Virgin to the Child on one side and a Christ crucified on the other. The arms of the cross, connected by S-shaped volutes evoking phylacteries, rest on a cylindrical column and then hexagonal, itself placed on a rectangular base. This type of ornamentation reflects Renaissance religious art, mixing Christian symbolism and architectural elegance.

The construction of the cross was documented by the 1500 factory accounts, analysed by Abbé Bourassé in 1857. These archives reveal the names of the craftsmen involved: the mason Pierre Chotard and the sculptor Jean Augiers, each paid 150 floors for their work. The logistical details are also recorded, such as the transport of the "hard stone" by carters (40 soils), the purchase of lime and sandstone (11 soils), or the supply of iron bolts by Marshal Pierre Pichot (8 floors 9 denier). The final erection of the cross mobilized several workers, including two men paid 3 floors 4 denier to bring the small stone.

Classified as a historical monument by decree of 12 June 1926, this cross illustrates the importance of cemeteries as sacred and artistic spaces in the Renaissance. His iconography, centered on the Virgin and Christ, highlights his role both as a memorial and as a teacher for the faithful. The precision of the archives allows to reconstruct not only the techniques of construction, but also the collective organization around such projects, revealing the community and religious life of Bueil-en-Touraine at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Today owned by the commune, the cross is located near the former collegiate church, whose history was also studied by Abbé Bourassé. Its current location, although documented (19 La Borde), suffers from an imprecise GPS location (note 5/10), which complicates its exact identification on the ground. Despite this, it remains a remarkable testimony of the tourist funerary art and its anchoring in the local landscape.

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