Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame de Béhuard found its origins in the fifth century, when Saint Maurille, bishop of Angers, installed a statue of the Virgin Mary on a rock of the island, then called "Mary Island". This gesture marks the replacement of a pagan idol from the waters with a Marian cult, thus founding local devotion. The island becomes a place of pilgrimage, long before the construction of the current building.

The present church is built in 1469 under the impulse of King Louis XI, recaptured from a drowning in the Charente which he attributes to a miracle. In thanks, he had this sanctuary erected on the rock of Behuard. The building, classified as a historic monument since 1840, is distinguished by its atypical architecture: two square naves, an apparent rock inside, and an access by two separate stairs, one medieval and the other more recent.

Inside, the flat bedside choir, typical of the Angevin tradition, houses an ancient sacristy in corbellation, vestige of an earlier Romanesque sanctuary. The early nave, surmounted by a mezzanine, preserves 15th-century stalls and an organ of 1911 by Louis Debierre, a renowned Norwegian factor. The church is also decorated with statues and stained glass from the 15th to the 19th centuries, including a Virgin with the Child installed in 1907 north of the rock.

The site, insular and isolated, symbolizes both a place of Marian devotion and an architectural testimony of the links between royal power and religion in Anjou. Its history combines legend, miracles and heritage, attracting pilgrims and visitors for centuries.

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