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Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame de Montbouy, located in the Loiret, came into being in the 13th century, when the hospital brothers of Saint John of Jerusalem – owners of a local command office – began to build it. From plan to Latin cross, it is distinguished by a salient transept, a polygonal bedside choir, and a northern collateral. The square bell tower, with foothills, dominates the southern crusillon. The large arched arches on the north side, based on a 15th century moulure base, bear witness to the first major transformations. At that time, the north side, the north chapel, and a new nave frame were also added, while the south wall was pierced with broken arch windows with elegant reamping, characteristic of the flamboyant Gothic.

In the 16th century, the church underwent new changes: a door was opened in the north side, and the choir was raised to the limit of the 16th and 17th centuries. However, a project of total vaulting of the building, envisaged at the same time, will never come into being. The cross of the transept has a dormitory vault with ivy arches, while the chorus lights up five windows in the middle of the hangar, decorated with trilobed lancettes and quadrilobed fillings. The building, originally dedicated to Notre-Dame and Saint-Blaise, preserves traces of its 12th century Romanesque portal, adding to its stylistic stratification.

Classified as a Historical Monument in 1967, the church now belongs to the commune of Montbouy. Its architecture reflects almost four centuries of evolution, from medieval origins to Renaissance additions, to the influence of hospital orders. The dogive vaults of the choir and side chapels contrast with the false vault in the cradle of the lower side, illustrating the diversity of techniques used over time. Its massive bell tower and its emplacement bays are a remarkable testimony to the religious heritage of the Centre-Val de Loire.

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