EGLISE NOTRE DAME ET SAINT JEAN BAPTISTE - AVESNES EN SAOSNOIS

Destroyed by fire during a violent storm in 1986, the church in Avesnes en Saosnois was rebuilt thanks to the determination of the local people.

The monks of Saint Vincent du Mans Abbey founded a priory in Avesnes en Saosnois around 1106. In 1204, Pope Innocent III included the church under the protection of the Abbey of Le Mans.

In 1580, it was decided to build the church on the "pâtis communal". A small church with a wooden porch was erected, flanked by its presbytery... In the apse, a magnificent stained-glass window, "Death to the Virgin Mary", dating from this period, has been classified as World Heritage.

In 1890, the church lost its wooden porch and gained a tall, proud Renaissance-style bell tower. The cemetery that used to surround the church was moved to the outskirts of the village.

Note the polychrome stone sculpture of Saint Avertin.