Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame de Vierzon, located in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region, finds its origins in the 12th century, when a first single-nave building was erected. This initial building, whose side and footwalls were preserved, served as the basis for the major reconstruction undertaken in the 15th century. The architects of the 15th century then pierced arcades in third-point in the existing walls and integrated the old foothills as pillars separating the nave from the lower side, thus creating an enlarged structure composed of a nave with low sides, a transept with eastern chapels, and a choir completed by a polygonal apse. The bell tower, forming porch in front of the facade, retains a lower vaulted floor dating from the thirteenth century, while its upper levels were rebuilt in the fifteenth century. The current roof replaces a structural arrow shot down in 1793, reflecting the upheavals of the French Revolution.

During the 19th century, notable modifications were made to the building: the vaults of original panelling, in a broken cradle with apparent braces and punches, were partially demolished in the chapels of the choir and replaced by d ́ogive vaults with liernes and pendant keys, made of bricks and plaster. Among the oldest remains is a small 12th-century chapel, dogive vaulted, located in the northeast corner of the north arm of the transept. The church once housed a young man, whose location is still visible thanks to the staircase wrapped in the southern pillar. The west door of the south side, adorned with pinnacles, hooks and archatures, illustrates the care taken to the Gothic decoration, crowned by a band of foliage and small characters.

Ranked among the historical monuments by order of 24 February 1926, the Church of Notre-Dame was also the victim of an act of desecration in January 2015, when a ciborium containing consecrated hosts was stolen. This event led to the temporary suspension of worship and the celebration of a mass of reparation on February 6, 2015, marking a painful episode in the recent history of the place. Today owned by the municipality of Vierzon, the building continues to bear witness, through its multiple architectural strata, to the artistic and religious evolutions of the region since the Middle Ages.

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