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Origin and history

Notre-Dame de Fresnay-sur-Sarthe Church, located in the city centre, is a Catholic building built in the third quarter of the 12th century. Its architecture is distinguished by three spans with various materials: limestone for the first, alternating white stones and red sandstone for the second, and exclusive redstone for the third and facade. According to Eugène Lefèvre-Pontalis, his style after the cathedral of Le Mans (consecrated in 1158) suggests a direct influence of Bishop Guillaume de Passavant. The hemicycle choir would have been built first, followed by the spans under the impulse of Roscelin, Viscount de Beaumont, and then completed under his successor Richard.

Canon Didion (curé de Fresnay at the beginning of the 20th century) attributed the beginning of the work to Jean de Pontlogot, monk of Saint-Aubin d'Angers residing in Fresnay between 1158 and 1170. The third span, the facade and the octagonal bell tower (with its slate arrow restored in 1954) date from this period. In 1865-1866, the church was enlarged with two crucifixes forming a transept to respond to population growth, while a major restoration in 1881 included murals. The carved oak door, dating from 1528, illustrates the tree of Jesse and the Passion of Christ.

Classified as a historical monument in 1912 (excluding modern chapels), the church houses a 12-game organ inaugurated in 1932, built by the house Debierre-Gloton de Nantes. Among the remarkable elements are a funeral stele of the Braindaux (15th century), rediscovered in the 19th century, and a tombstone of Jean Brindel (1910), whose statues, beheaded during the Protestant bag of 1562, were restored in 1909. The furniture includes benitiers of 1679 and benches of 1766.

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