Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Priory of Mayanne is a former monastic establishment founded in the 4th quarter of the 11th century, located 1.3 km southeast of the village of Dangeul, in the department of Sarthe (region Pays de la Loire). Its architecture reflects major transformations in the 15th and 16th centuries, including the conversion of the old chapel into a house and the preservation of medieval murals in the choir. The site also includes a tidal barn with a remarkable wooden frame, as well as a two-storey house with chimneys probably dating back to the late Middle Ages.

Ranked a historic monument by decree of 3 December 2013, the priory fully protects several elements: the chapel and its adjoining house, the cobbled courtyard with its fence walls, the building of the "large attices", a barn on poles incorporating a house, as well as the bread oven. The facades and roofs of the old farm buildings, now converted into houses, are also protected. The classification also covers the soils and subsoils of plots ZH 31 and ZH 32, as specified in the decree.

In 2019, owners Jürgen and Ghislaine Klötgen were awarded a medal of honour by the Old French Houses (VMF) for their exemplary restoration of the site. This distinction highlights the heritage value of the priory, combining Romanesque, medieval and reborn heritage. The available sources (Wikipedia, Monumentum, Merimée base) confirm its architectural and historical importance in the Sarthe.

The official address registered in the Mérimée database is 11 Mayanne, 72260 Dangeul, with an Insee 72112 code attached to the municipality. Although the accuracy of its location is considered satisfactory a priori (note 6/10), the priory remains a rare testimony of rural religious establishments in Upper Maine, marked by successive redevelopments linked to its monastic and then agricultural use.

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