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Origin and history

The Saint-Vigor Church, located in Colleville-Montgomery, Calvados, is a Catholic building dating back to the 12th century. Although partially rebuilt in the 13th and 15th centuries, it preserves Romanesque elements such as arches in full hanger and carved modillons. Its square bell tower, typical of Norman architecture, was damaged in 1944 during the fighting of the Liberation and then restored to the same style. The nave, never vaulted, and the choir separated by an arc in the middle of the spectrum, testify to its architectural evolution over the centuries.

The first written mention of Colleville (then Colivilla) dates from 1082, in a charter signed by William the Conqueror and Mathilde, assigning tithes to the abbey of the Trinity of Caen. The church, dedicated to Saint Vigor (Bishop of Bayeux in the 6th century), was under the alternating patronage of this abbey and the chapter of Bayeux. Until 1680, the parish was headed by two parish priests, a common practice in Normandy. The tithe revenues were shared between the abbey, the bishopric, and other religious institutions, reflecting the economic importance of religious buildings in the Middle Ages.

At the time of the Revolution, the parish priest of Colleville, like many in the West, refused to take the oath of the Civil Constitution of the clergy and was declared refractory. In the 19th century, the church was listed as a Historic Monument in 1927 for its choir. In 1944, English shells targeting German soldiers stationed in the bell tower destroyed part of the choir and damaged the tower. Subsequent restorations, faithful to the original, include the piercing of a large doorway in the bedside and the relocation of the baptismal fonts of the eighteenth century in the chapel.

The building is distinguished by its three-level tower-clocher, crowned with niches, and its modern stained glass windows created by Jacques Michel after 1944, depicting biblical scenes and Saint Vigor. The nave, flaked with buttresses, preserves traces of walled arcades and stones arranged in fish ridge. The chapel Notre-Dame-des-Vœux, added in the 13th century, communicates with the nave by arches in broken arches. The ensemble illustrates the stylistic transitions between Roman and Gothic, characteristic of Norman architecture.

The Le Sueur de Colleville family, a noble Protestant converted in the 17th century, owned much of the local land but resided outside the village. Their absence and the religious tensions of the time (such as the refusal of the constitutional oath) reflect the social upheavals that marked the history of the parish. Today, the church, a communal property, remains a testimony of the links between religious, seigneurial and community power in Normandy since the Middle Ages.

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