EGLISE NOTRE DAME A BEAUFORT EN VALLÉE

Discover the remarkable Notre Dame church in Beaufort en Vallée

Notre-Dame church is the third religious building to be constructed on this site. It follows on from a wooden chapel (circa 1000) and a 12th century church. In the 15th century, Jeanne de Laval decided to build a new sanctuary in place of the dilapidated Romanesque church. The nave and north aisle were built in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The Renaissance-style bell tower was completed in 1542. Most of the current building, such as the impressive neo-Gothic chevet, was rebuilt in the second half of the 19th century. Inside the church, the 41 stained glass windows with 652 figures, a major work by the Parisian master glass artist Edouard Didron, mainly illustrate the life of the Virgin Mary. Among these, the large stained glass window in the south transept, restored in 2016, is certainly the highlight. The great organ, restored in 1994, vibrates every May on the occasion of the Grand Prix de l'Académie des Beaux-Arts, Institut de France. The church of Notre-Dame de Beaufort-en-Vallée is part of the network of "Welcoming Churches in Anjou". An audio guide for the tour has been set up, and visitors who have downloaded the free geolocalised izi-TRA-VEL application can use their own smartphone or tablet to discover all the sites around them that offer this facility.