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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Thorigny-sur-Oreuse, located in the department of Yonne in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, is a religious building built between the 15th century and the second half of the 17th century. It is dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul and depends on the archdiocese of Sens-Auxerre. Its architecture reflects the influences of the conflicts of the Hundred Years War, with a fortified bell tower typical of the border churches between Champagne, Île-de-France and Burgundy. The building overlooks the sources of the Oreuse, one of which feeds a nearby washhouse, and has structured local urban planning since the 15th century.

The interior of the church has a nave sloping towards the choir, suggesting the ancient existence of a filled crypt. The lower side houses altars dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and the Virgin, decorated with 14th and 17th century sculptures. Among the notable elements are a carved vousivre, arch keys dated from the 1490s (including one with the arms of Jean Thomas de Belleville and Perrette de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam), and a Tuscan portal offered by the Planelli de Mascrany family of La Valette in the 18th century.

The church, classified as a historical monument in 2006 despite the local opposition, houses copies of Ingres paintings and 19th-century stained glass windows. Closed to worship today, it suffers from a disturbing dilapidation, although it remains one of the most remarkable monuments of the rural Senonian. His history is marked by seigneurial gifts, such as those of John Baptist Lambert in the 17th century, and by post-Vatican II liturgical transformations.

The parish cemetery, closed in the 19th century, was transformed into the place of the monument to the dead in 1919. The materials of the sacristy, built in the 17th century, come from the sandstone quarries of Saint-Martin-sur-Oreuse. The building thus illustrates centuries of local history, between medieval conflicts, seigneurial patronage and religious evolution.

The polychrome vault keys, representing a tower populated by characters or coats of arms, testify to the artistic richness of the late 15th century. The west porch, added in 1675 by Lambert de Thorigny, and the graffiti of the portal (mixing 18th century inscriptions and contemporary traces) add to its singularity. Despite its present state, the church retains major architectural and historical elements for the region.

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