Eglise (à l'exception des parties modernes)
ChurchHidden Treasure
Nestling in the heart of the Val d'Anjou, the church of Saint-Rémy-la-Varenne unfurls its Romanesque and Gothic volumes between the 11th and 13th centuries, a rare testimony to a medieval faith rooted in the tufa stone of the Loire.
History
On the banks of the Loire, in the peaceful village of Saint-Rémy-la-Varenne, stands a church whose white tufa stones tell the story of more than eight centuries of religious and architectural history. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1974, it is one of the most endearing landmarks of the Maine-et-Loire's Romanesque and Gothic heritage, away from the mass tourist circuits but accessible to the curious who know how to venture off the beaten track. What makes this monument unique is the legibility of its successive layers of construction: the attentive visitor can read in it, as in a stone book, the evolution of architectural techniques and tastes from the 11th to the 13th century. The primitive nave with its thick walls, the historiated capitals of the Romanesque chevet, and then the more ethereal elevations of the early Angevin Gothic form a coherent dialogue that has never been brutally disrupted by clumsy restoration campaigns. The experience of visiting the church is one of intimate contemplation. Inside, light filters in through narrow windows, bathing the vaults and columns in the golden light typical of Anjou tufa. The natural acoustics of the nave are surprising: the slightest footstep resonates with a dignity that reminds us that these premises were for centuries the centre of gravity of an entire rural community. The external setting adds to the charm of the whole. The church is set against a backdrop of hedged farmland and vineyards, with the slopes of the Loire as a backdrop. The adjoining cemetery, shaded by ancient yew trees, contains engraved stelae that bear witness to the long history of settlement on this bank of the river. Photographers and watercolourists find plenty to work with here at sunrise, when the morning mist still shrouds the white stones in a translucent veil.
Architecture
The church of Saint-Rémy-la-Varenne is part of the great tradition of Loire Romanesque architecture, characterised by the almost exclusive use of tuffeau, the soft white limestone quarried from the troglodytic cliffs along the Loire and Layon rivers. Light to cut but remarkably durable provided it is protected from seepage, it gives the elevations the luminous creamy hue so characteristic of Anjou's heritage. The plan of the building follows the classic layout of a medieval rural church: a nave with one or two aisles, a slightly projecting transept and an east apse with a semicircular apse, a direct legacy of the Benedictine formulas of the 11th century. From the outside, the bell tower is the most immediately visible feature: its Romanesque base with blind arcatures gives way, on the upper levels, to twinned bays whose columns with water-leaf capitals already announce the Gothic sensibility. The flat buttresses, characteristic of Anjou Romanesque architecture, punctuate the eaves walls of the nave. The partially preserved cornice with sculpted modillions is a fine example of popular medieval iconography: grinning heads, geometric interlacing and floral motifs follow one another beneath the roofline. Inside, the transition between Romanesque and Anjou Gothic can be seen in the vaults: while the nave still has a barrel vault or wooden ceiling, the eastern bays have curved vaults with decorated keystones, typical of the Plantagenet Gothic style. The historiated capitals on the crossing pillars, although partially worn by the centuries, still feature faces, foliage and symbolic creatures that in the Middle Ages were a veritable stone Bible for a largely illiterate population.
Related Figures
Foulques Nerra (987-1040), comte d'Anjou, dont la politique de fondations religieuses impulsa la construction de nombreuses églises rurales du Maine-et-Loire contemporaines de ce chantierGeoffroi Martel (1006-1060), comte d'Anjou, continuateur de l'œuvre de son père et mécène de l'architecture romane angevineLes moines de l'abbaye Saint-Maur-de-Glanfeuil, communauté bénédictine voisine dont le rayonnage spirituel et économique structura la paroisse de Saint-Rémy-la-Varenne tout au long du Moyen ÂgeLes maîtres maçons de l'atelier ligérien du XIIe siècle, héritiers des traditions lombardes, dont on retrouve la signature stylistique dans la sculpture des chapiteaux et des modillonsL'évêque d'Angers du XIIIe siècle, superviseur des travaux de gothicisation des voûtes dans le cadre du renouveau pastoral post-concile de Latran IV (1215)
