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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Leubais de Sennevières, dedicated to the Catholic cult, is located in the department of Indre-et-Loire, in the center of the village of Sennevières. Mentioned for the first time in a charter of 1173, it may occupy the site of a primitive priory founded in the sixth century by Ursus de Cahors, evoked by Gregory of Tours. Its architecture combines elements of the 11th century, like the apparatus of the nave, and of the 12th century, with the square choir supporting the bell tower and the arched abside in cul-de-four. The bell tower's arrow, re-established in 1931, crowned the building.

The nave, built in small apparatus, is reinforced by later added plated foothills. It is lit by bays in the middle of the wall, some of which date from the 19th century, when a plaster vault was added. The choir, narrower, supports a square tower pierced by Romanesque bays with concentric archvolts, surmounted by a cornice carved with modillons of human heads. The building ends with a single window at the bedside. The stained glass windows, made by the Fournier-Clément de Tours workshop, complement this heritage.

Classified as a historical monument on November 13, 1939, the church illustrates the Romanesque architectural evolution in Touraine. Its bell tower, characteristic of the buildings of the region, has an octagonal arrow with dormer windows. The exterior, preserved in its primitive state except the foothills of the 14th-15th centuries, bears witness to its authenticity. A communal property, it remains a place of worship and a significant remnant of local religious heritage.

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