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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Pierre-le-Puellier de Tours, located in the Old Towers district, finds its origins in a monastery whose foundation is sometimes attributed to Queen Clotilde in the 6th century, although no source confirms it. This monastery, dedicated to the reception of young women (puellarum), is mentioned for the first time in the 8th century as a dependency of Saint Martin Abbey. In the 11th century, it became a parish and then a collegiate church in 1073, marking its growing importance in the medieval city, especially with the rise of pilgrimages to St Martin.

The construction of the present Gothic church began between 1170 and 1180, in the angelvin style, with a nave to collateral, a transept and a flat choir. It is enlarged at the edge of the 14th and 15th centuries, during which time a vaulted room in a broken cradle, possibly linked to the cloister, is added. The monastery also played a judicial role: in 1199, Philippe Auguste authorized the "water and fire" test, a medieval ordalia. Archaeological remains also reveal an active parish cemetery from the 11th to the 14th century, with evolutionary funeral practices (stone sarcophagi and back to wooden formwork).

The French Revolution marked a tragic turning point: sold as a national property in 1791, the church was almost entirely demolished by its buyers, who reused the materials. Only part of the northern collateral (12th century) and the vaulted 15th century room remain, transformed into houses. These remains, inscribed in the historical monuments in 1946, bear witness today to the turbulent history of the site, where excavations of the years 1968-72 revealed ancient traces (Roman baths, tanneries) and medieval ones, now visible in an archaeological garden.

The site has occupied a strategic position since Antiquity: founded in the Roman period (ca. 15 AD) as a craft area on the banks of the Loire, it was renovated in the 2nd and 3rd centuries with tanneries, before being abandoned. In the Middle Ages, its location between the Basilica of Saint Martin and the Loire makes it a dynamic shopping village, linked to pilgrimages. The revolutionary destructions and subsequent urban transformations have erased much of this heritage, but the preserved remains offer a rare glimpse of Tourangelle Gothic architecture and female monastic life.

Architecturally, the church combined Gothic elements of the West (voûts, bays in the middle of the hangar) with late additions such as the vaulted room, perhaps a passage to the cloister. The sculpted capitals, partially preserved, and the traces of stained glass attributed to the brothers Le Pellerain (15th century) underline its rich original decor. The destruction of 1791 saved only 39 m long by 26 m wide (dimensions of the building after the deed of sale), reducing this major monument to a symbolic fragment of the tourist heritage.

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