Église Saint-Blaise de La Chapelle-Gaugain

English translation

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History

The current plan of the church results from several campaigns of construction and works, distributed between the 12th and 19th century. In the Romanesque period, probably in the 12th century, a first church is constructed. The chevet, the choir and part of the south wall bear witness to this original construction. The parish is mentioned for the first time in the sources in the 13th century. Between the beginning of the 16th century and 1536, the church is the subject of an important campaign of works, very probably financed by Louis de Ronsard, lord of La Chapelle-Gaugain at the time, whose coat of arms is displayed in two places in the church. The works consist of the enlargement of the nave on its north side, causing its misalignment with respect to the choir; the addition of a vaulted ante-nave receiving the foundations of a new square bell tower and giving rise to the creation of a new façade; the creation of a seigneurial chapel for the Ronsard family, with direct access pierced through the adjoining buttress; and the replacement of the exposed roof structure dated 1536 by an inscription carried on a principal rafter. These works are accompanied by a decorative programme: a new portal is sculpted on the western façade, receiving decorative elements characteristic of the Early Renaissance; the rebuilt north wall is decorated with a door with Renaissance decoration and a cornice with sculpted frieze; the seigneurial chapel is covered with a rib vault; finally, a large opening with tracery is pierced in the south wall and set with stained glass.

Description

The church of Saint-Blaise consists of a Romanesque chevet, a choir bay opening to the north and south onto chapels, a nave misaligned with respect to the choir, and an ante-nave supporting to the north, by means of three piers, a square bell tower. To the south-east, a small sacristy has been built against the chevet. The masonry of the church is constructed in rubble stone of flint and limestone, rendered with lime and sand. The buttresses, opening surrounds and portals are constructed in ashlar limestone. Roussard sandstone was used in the socle. The steeply-pitched roof is covered with slate. The west portal, with very simple framing, is distinguished by its very developed and slender crowning, sculpted with very fine decoration in tufa stone. The sculptures of this portal are particularly notable for the fineness of the ornaments, cut in low relief, and therefore rather in the Italian manner. It is surmounted by an interesting cornice composed of a moulding cut in gorge alternating with convex mouldings, surmounting a frieze decorated with a vegetal garland. The foliage and fruits are varied, in the manner of friezes bordering tapestries. There is also a small grimacing mask as well as a small dog with open jaws. Bordered from the outset by the main circulation axis of the village, with the western façade opening onto the cemetery, the north wall is pierced by two access doors. The first is a small door surprisingly pierced in the eastern buttress to allow direct access to the seigneurial chapel of the Ronsards. This passage contains numerous graffiti, the oldest of which date back to the late 18th century. The second door, now blocked up, is located in the second bay, joined to the buttress of the bell tower. It also received Renaissance decoration: the jambs decorated with pilasters support an entablature crowned with a pediment with rampants decorated with crockets and bearing a sculptured decoration (coat of arms?) now very damaged. Figures placed on a pedestal are sculpted as acroteria. A pinnacle has been placed at the apex of the pediment.