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Origin and history

The church of Saint Taurin d'Evreux, dedicated to Taurin, the first bishop of the city, rises on the site of a former Benedictine monastery founded around 950 by Richard I of Normandy. According to legend, a wooden oratory was erected there in the sixth century by Landulf, destroyed during the Norman invasions. After the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte (911), the abbey was rebuilt and placed under the dependency of Fécamp by Robert the Magnificent, father of William the Conqueror. It suffered repeated destruction, especially in 1195 during the fire of Évreux by Philippe Auguste.

In the 13th century, under Gilbert de Saint-Martin's abbey, the abbey became independent and was embellished, notably by the creation of the castle of Saint Taurin and the southern gate. King Louis IX went there in 1259 for the priesthood of Bishop Raoul of Grosparmi. The decadence settled with the regime of commende, until the Maurist reform in the seventeenth century, which saved the ruined church and built the current classical gate. The Revolution transformed the abbey into a saltpetry, before it was restored as a parish church in 1801.

The architecture mixes Romanesque (XII century), Gothic (XV century) and Renaissance styles, with a Gothic choir and a nave with remodeled vaults and triforium. The south gate, adorned with a hammered tympanum depicting Christ and the Evangelists, and the 13th century wooden, silver and gold shawl, illustrating the legend of Saint Taurin, are among its treasures. The organ, installed in 1842 by Callinet and Daublaine, was restored in 1974.

Ranked as a historical monument in 1840 (tour) and 1846 (church), the abbey retains remains recorded in 1996. Its history reflects the political and religious upheavals of Normandy, from the Dukes to the revolutions, to monastic reforms.

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