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Origin and history

The Saint-Nizier de Troyes church, dedicated to Nizier de Lyon, is one of the oldest religious buildings in the city. It was built on the site of a Bas Empire oratory dedicated to Saint Maur, originally located outside the walls of Troyes. Bishop Gallomonge brought the relics of Saint Nizier from Lyon, consolidating his spiritual importance. As early as 1080, the parish, including neighborhoods such as Labourat and Bourg-Saint-Jacques, was under the collation of the cathedral chapter. Its cemetery, adjacent to the north and south collaterals, continued until the end of the 18th century.

The current building, erected in the 16th century, blends Gothic and Renaissance styles. Its apse houses stained glass windows dated 1505, while its northern (1531, Renaissance style) and western (1580) portals illustrate this stylistic duality. The northern gate, decorated with the monograms of Diane de Poitiers and Henry II, was completed in 1548. The nave, covered in 1582, adopts a rectangular plan with three naves and four spans. The tower, built between 1602 and 1619 by architects Gérard Fauchot and Laurent Baudrot, replaced an old wood belfry.

The church houses a classified organ, built in 1851 by Ducroquet with elements of the Daublaine house, as well as a rich 16th century statuary complex (wood, polychrome limestone). Its stained glass windows, partly from other churches in the seventeenth century, and its paintings (XVIII–XIX centuries) bear witness to its artistic heritage. Ranked a historic monument in 1840, it remains a symbol of the Troyan religious heritage, between medieval heritage and renaissant influences.

His western portal, attributed to Dominique Florentin (1574), has C monograms associated with Charles X, although this chronological attribution seems anachronistic (Charles X reigning in the 19th century). The southern portal, of flamboyant Gothic style (1531), contrasts with the whole. The monumental paintings, like Christ on the Cross on a cemetery (1927) by Henri Marret, add a memorial dimension, evoking the Great War.

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