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All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

  2. Patrimoine
  3. Pays-de-la-Loire
  4. Loire-Atlantique
  5. 44000 Nantes

  6. Church of Saint-Similien

Church of Saint-Similien en Loire-Atlantique

Loire-Atlantique

Church of Saint-Similien

    34 Place Saint Similien
    44000 Nantes
Photo de Church of Saint-Similien
Selbymay

Timeline

Antiquité
Haut Moyen Âge
Moyen Âge central
Bas Moyen Âge
Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
300
400
500
…
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
…
1800
1900
2000
310
Death of Similien
419
Consecration of the Basilica
848
Norman invasions
1172
Restoration completed
1487
Nantes Headquarters
1824
Post-revolutionary reconstruction
1869-1897
Neo-Gothic construction
1905
Separation law
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Key figures

Similien de Nantes - 3rd Bishop of Nantes (IVth century) Spiritual Founder, buried under the church.
Eumilius - Bishop successor of Similien Builder of the votive chapel (310).
Léon de Nantes - Greek bishop (444-458) Builder of the first basilica (20m).
Grégoire de Tours - Historician (VIth century) Cite the basilica in *De gloria Martyrum*.
Gauthier - Bishop (Xth century) Launches post-Normande restoration (958).
Pierre du Chaffault - Bishop (15th century) Enlarged the church after the siege of 1487.
Eugène Boismen - Architect (11th century) Designs the current neo-Gothic church.
Joseph Vallet - Sculptor (19th century) Author of altars and Marian statues.

Origin and history

The church Saint-Silien, located in Nantes in the Hauts-Pavés district - Saint-Félix, is dedicated to Similien, the third bishop of the city in the fourth century. Its origin dates back to a votive chapel built in 310 by Bishop Eumilius on the tomb of Similien, replaced a century later by a merovingian basilica 20 meters long. Consecrated in 419, it housed the oldest baptismal fonts of Nantes (Vth century) and was cited by Gregory of Tours as one of the major basilicas of the city.

In the ninth century, the church survived Norman invasions (848) despite the looting of its relics, and was restored between 958 and 1172 under the impulse of Bishop Gauthier and Duke Geoffroy II. After the siege of Nantes in 1487 during the mad war, Bishop Pierre du Chaffault grew into a Latin cross, keeping his merovingian apse and adding a 32-metre bell tower. Closed during the Revolution (1793), it was reopened in 1802 before being rebuilt in 1824, then completely redesigned in the Gothic Revival style by architect Eugene Boismen from 1869.

The new church, blessed in 1897, became a 68-metre building with three naves, two strollers and a bedside dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy. Its façade, planned with two twin bell towers, remained unfinished after the 1905 law on the separation of churches and the state. The stained glass windows, made between 1876 and 1879 by the Fabrique du Carmel du Mans, illustrate biblical and Marian scenes, while the organ, built in 1850 and restored several times, adorns the nave. Two historic bells (1819), today without a bell tower, recall its past.

The interior houses marble altars of Carrara, including that of the Virgin (1886) by Joseph Vallet, and bas-reliefs representing crowds in prayer. A local legend, born from an interpretation of an apocalyptic stained glass window, evokes a dragon that once terrified the Hauts-Pavés district. Despite aborted beautification projects (1968), the church retains its hybrid character, mixing medieval remains and neo-Gothic elegance, a witness to 17 centuries of Nantes religious history.

External links

Page Wikipedia