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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Church of Notre-Dame de Bressuire is a religious monument dating back to the 10th and 12th centuries, although its current structure mainly reflects reconstructions and additions of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. Located in the centre of Bressuire, in the Deux-Sèvres department, it is mentioned for the first time in 1090. Its architecture thus combines primitive Romanesque elements, such as the portal and the bases of the nave walls, with later Gothic additions.

In the middle of the 16th century, the church was surmounted by a 56-metre Gothic bell tower overlooking the city. This bell tower, completed in 1542 by L. Gendre Odonnet according to an inscription, is characterized by its square structure, its two openwork galleries, a rotunda, a dome, eight bell towers and a lantern. The choir, destroyed and then replaced by three ships of three spans, dates from the time of Pierre de Montmorency-Laval, seigneur of Bressuire between 1510 and 1528, whose coat of arms adorn the keys to the vault.

The building was the subject of several restoration campaigns, notably between 1978 and 2000, which revealed 1821 murals ornamenting the choir. Additional renovation was required after the December 1999 storm. The church was classified as historical monuments in 1840, declassified in 1900 (except the bell tower), and finally classified by decree of 10 February 1913.

Historical sources, such as the works of Bélisaire Ledain (1894) and Bénédicte Fillion (2001), highlight the architectural and heritage importance of this monument. The church thus illustrates the evolution of religious architectural styles in Poitou, from Romanesque origins to late Gothic additions, while playing a central role in Bressuire's community and spiritual life.

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