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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Christophe de Reuilly, located in the department of Eure in Normandy, is a Catholic building whose origins date mainly from the 10th and 11th centuries, as evidenced by the 14th carbon dating. Its architecture, described by Lucien Musset as "the most perfect example of the 11th century rural sanctuaries", reveals preromantic construction techniques, with a millstone apparatus arranged in fish ridge. The building, facing southeast and surrounded by the communal cemetery, stands away from the village, on the side of a valley overlooking a ru, near an ancient ford on a medieval road leading to Santiago de Compostela. This isolated location suggests a possible superposition with an earlier religious site, perhaps a Gaulish fanum or a Gallo-Roman necropolis.

The church, with a simple plan with an extended nave of a flat bedside choir, presents a 16th century structure based on carved wooden candles. Its curved bays, some of which were later modified (such as the two broken arches of the southern facade), and its central bell tower covered with slate illustrate architectural evolutions over centuries. Inside, a door of the 15th or 16th century, reinforced, leads to the sacristy added after the blow. The furniture includes notable elements such as a 16th century sculpted group representing Saint Christophe (classified in 1975) and octagonal baptismal fonts of the 16th century, decorated with vegetal and heraldic motifs, placed on an older limestone base.

The history of the church is also marked by its vocation as a stage on the roads of Compostelle, a day's walk from the Seine ford to Gaillon. The surrounding cemetery also houses the mausoleum of Armand d'Hautpoul, a Napoleonic general who died in 1852. Classified as a historical monument by decree of 17 April 1926, the church also preserves works from the former church of Saint-Vigor, destroyed in 1811, including a double copy statuary. Its 17th century altarpiece, restored in 2012, bears witness to the artistic richness of the place.

The protection of the building, registered in 1926, underscores its heritage importance. Recent studies have confirmed that some parts of the church dated from the 10th century, prior to its first written mention in the 11th century. This discrepancy between archaeological evidence and textual sources enriches the understanding of its role in the Norman religious landscape, between presumed pagan heritage and medieval Christianity. Its state of conservation, despite subsequent changes (such as the rebuking of the bedside bay in the 16th century), makes it a valuable witness to the rural architecture of France.

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