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Origin and history

The former church of Notre-Dame de Rochefort, founded in the 12th century, is a Romanesque priory dependent on the Saint-Vivian chapter of Saintes. It was surrounded by a cemetery and served as the main parish before the creation of the royal arsenal in 1665. Its sculpted portal, typical of the Saintongeese novel, attested to a great ornamental richness, as evidenced by the discovered harpsichords representing characters and the Old One of Revelation.

In 1665, the purchase of the seigneury of Rochefort by Louis XIV to establish an arsenal marginalized the church. A new parish, Saint-Louis, was erected in 1686, relegating Notre-Dame to the status of "Vieux-Paroisse". The building is partially rebuilt (clocher in 1689) and retains its name of Our Lady of the Nativity, celebrated on September 8. A side chapel was dedicated to Saint Roch.

Disused in 1860 after the construction of a new Notre-Dame church, the building houses the Bourse du Travail (1900–1976), and in 1979 became the Archaeological Museum of the Old Parish. Managed by the Société de Géographie de Rochefort (founded in 1879), he exhibited collections ranging from prehistory to modern times, including Romanesque sculptures and 12th-century sarcophagi, which were discovered in 2024.

Recent excavations revealed twenty-two medieval burials near the church, but their accidental destruction (without DRAC intervention) deprived archaeologists of an in-depth study. However, the museum retains key elements such as a Romanesque capital representing the prodigal Son (formerly exposed in La Rochelle) and Saintongese pottery from the 16th–15th centuries.

The church illustrates the religious and urban evolution of Rochefort: first medieval parish heart, it becomes a symbol of the transition to the modern city after 1665. Its museum now perpetuates local archaeological memory, while the Society of Geography publishes its research in the magazine Roccafortis, founded in 1960.

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