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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of Saint Martin de Nouans-les-Fontaines, dedicated to Catholic worship, was built in the 13th century in the center of the present town. Its initial architecture, marked by a simple nave without bottoms and a seven-sided apse, was partially redesigned in the 15th century, notably to complete the sexpartite vaults begun two centuries earlier. Medieval sources suggest a ditched enclosure around the church, disappeared during the cadastre of 1831, suggesting its central role in the formation of the village. The classical orientation (west porch, east choir) and the plated foothills reflect the Gothic cannons of the era.

The facade and porch, rebuilt in 1789 in a neo-XII century style, were completed in 1846 by a staircase modified during the rectification of the adjacent street. The church, inscribed with historical monuments in 1926, preserves traces of a possible anterior church (Merovingian or Carolingian) in the north wall of the nave. Its bell tower, with a square base surmounted by an octagonal arrow, dominates a building illuminated by lancets and adorned with historiated vault keys, including one representing the sharing of St Martin's coat.

The furniture has three classified elements: the Pietà de Nouans (15th century), a table panel attributed to Jean Fouquet (although disputed), a Christ on the Cross and a Virgin with Child (16th century) in carved wood. A modern statue (19th century) of Saint Martin, as a blessed bishop, completes the Martinian iconography. These works, exhibited in the choir and the nave, bear witness to the artistic richness of the Tourangelle, between medieval heritage and renaissance.

The Ilian architectural influence, visible in the sexpartite vaults, and the dedication to Saint Martin — shared by 3,700 French buildings — underline its anchoring in the regional religious network. The medallions of the keys, the sculpted heads of the ass-de-lampe, and the 13th century external statue (representing the same episode of the coat) reinforce the symbolic coherence of the place, between worship, local history and artistic heritage.

Written sources, such as the cartular of the Archdiocese of Tours or the monograph of Charles Guyot (1855), document his evolution. Today a communal property, the church remains open to visit, perpetuating its role as the historical and spiritual core of the village.

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