Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Théâtre du Vieux Saint-Étienne is an ancient parish church in Rennes, originally built in the 12th century and rebuilt in the 15th century. The building, in Gothic style with baroque additions like the bell tower-porch (1743), was the chapel of the Augustins before becoming a military store in the 19th century. Its roofing panelling and its false wooden vaults, partially preserved, testify to its late medieval architecture.

The church of Saint Stephen, mentioned in the twelfth century, was the burial place of the mayor Toussaint-François Rallier du Baty in 1734. Disused in 1791 after the transfer of worship to the church of Augustines, it was acquired by the city in 1969. Transformed into a theatre in 1985, it initially housed the company Théâtre de l'Alibi before hosting, since 2012, the festival Now (digital arts) and, since 2017, a circus laboratory in summer residence.

Ranked a historic monument in 1926, the old church retains elements dated as the north transept window (1553), a niche (1563), and a panel of 1670. Its bell tower, once surmounted by a bulb, was changed in the 19th century. Today a municipal property, the site combines architectural heritage and contemporary creation, illustrating the cultural rehabilitation of desacralized religious buildings.

Historical sources underline its central role in the Rennes parish, considered the oldest in the city. Archives mention major works in the 15th and 18th centuries, including the plans of the bell tower (1741) signed by the engineer Forestier de Villeneuve. Its evolution reflects the urban and religious changes of Rennes, from the Ancien Régime to the modern era.

External links