St. Peter's Church, Chartres, France

Saint Peter’s (Saint-Pierre) church was formerly an abbey church of the Benedictines. The abbey church was founded in the 7th century with the help of Queen Bathilde, the wife of Clovis II. The most important vestige of the church is a convent buildings located on the south side, later rebuilt in early 18th century, and nowadays served as a school named Lycee Marceau.

The church was destroyed several times by Normans between 858 and 911. It has also been damaged by fire in 1077 and 1134. Reconstruction of the apse and ambulatory has taken in 1165 under the direction of Bilduard with less financial support. The tomb of Gilduin, a bishop of Breton, who died in 1077 and buried in the church was discovered during the work. This discovery encouraged donations from the congregations and allowed the continuation of the reconstruction of the church and also supported the construction of Chartres cathedral tour and royal portal.

The most ancient part of the church is the bell tower on the west side, built around the year 1000 AD. The nave and the aisles date from the early 13th century. The church was finally completed around the year 1320. During French revolution, the church has seized and served as a saltpeter factory - then finally returned to its original function as a worship place in 1803 and nowadays regularly host the Organ Festival. St. Peter’s church opens from Monday to Friday at 2pm to 6pm and you can enter the church for free.

References:

Discover Chartres

User Reviews

K R (7 months ago)
Nice eglise with traditional architecture. The coloured glass windows make a fabulous view of sun light reflecting inside the building. The church looks as much beautiful from the inside as it does from the outside. There is a very peaceful and divine feeling you could experience once inside.

Nicola Passaro (9 months ago)
Amazing church worth a visit . Of course not recommending a tour on a Sunday ( easy to understand the reason)

Taku KURIBAYASHI (9 months ago)
Nice looking ancient church but needs more maintenance as walls and the ceiling look like they are falling apart

Linh Nguyen (2 years ago)
I love how it ages. I love how it looks really ancien and original. I hope even if they restore it they'll still keep that real look.

Yaron Bental (2 years ago)
Spectacularly beautiful, enormous, i love how the old is preserved and more modern work is intertwined and fit perfectly

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Photo from Flickr, copyright caminanteK

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The Château de Foix dominates the town of Foix. An important tourist site, it is known as a centre of the Cathars. Built on an older 7th-century fortification, the castle is known from 987. In 1002, it was mentioned in the will of Roger I, Count of Carcassonne, who bequeathed the fortress to his youngest child, Bernard. In effect, the family ruling over the region were installed here which allowed them to control access to the upper Ariège valley and to keep surveillance from this strategic point over the lower land, protected behind impregnable walls.

In 1034, the castle became capital of the County of Foix and played a decisive role in medieval military history. During the two following centuries, the castle was home to Counts with shining personalities who became the soul of the Occitan resistance during the crusade against the Albigensians. The county became a privileged refuge for persecuted Cathars.

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From the 14th century, the Counts of Foix spent less and less time in the uncomfortable castle, preferring the Governors' Palace. From 1479, the Counts of Foix became Kings of Navarre and the last of them, made Henri IV of France, annexed his Pyrrenean lands to France.

As seat of the Governor of the Foix region from the 15th century, the castle continued to ensure the defence of the area, notably during the Wars of Religion. Alone of all the castles in the region, it was exempted from the destruction orders of Richelieu (1632-1638).

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Since 1930, the castle has housed the collections of the Ariège départemental museum. Sections on prehistory, Gallo-Roman and mediaeval archaeology tell the history of Ariège from ancient times. Currently, the museum is rearranging exhibits to concentrate on the history of the castle site so as to recreate the life of Foix at the time of the Counts.

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