Eglise Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly
ChurchHidden Treasure
The Romanesque jewel of Saumur, Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly houses one of the finest collections of medieval tapestries in Anjou and boasts an austerely elegant 12th-century nave, listed since 1840.
History
Nestling on the southern slopes of Saumur, away from the hustle and bustle of the château, Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly church is one of the best-preserved Romanesque sanctuaries in the Loire Valley. Its squat silhouette, pale tufa walls and discreet bell tower betray a profound age that predates the fame of its host town by several centuries. What makes Nantilly truly unique is the density of its inner treasures. The walls of the nave and choir are covered with a series of tapestries from the 15th and 16th centuries, some of which come from the royal collection - a rare privilege for a parish church. These monumental textiles, which are both works of art and visual catechisms, transform every visit into an immersion in Anjou's medieval imagination. The building is also home to some exceptional statuary: polychrome tufa Virgins with Child, highly-crafted recumbents and historiated capitals that reflect the heyday of Romanesque sculpture in the Loire Valley. The quality of execution of some of the pieces suggests that they were commissioned by princely or royal patrons. To visit Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly is to agree to slow down. The light filtering through the Romanesque windows tints the limestone columns with gold, and the silence that reigns here contrasts strikingly with the bustle of the nearby quays of the Loire. A monument to be savoured at length, far from the beaten track.
Architecture
Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly has an elongated plan typical of late Angevin Romanesque architecture: a main nave flanked by a southern aisle added during the 12th century, a transept with little projection and a choir ending in a semicircular apse. The whole structure is built of tufa, a soft white limestone quarried from the cliffs of the Loire, which is easy to carve but ages gracefully with a buff patina. The roof is covered with Anjou slate in accordance with regional custom. On the outside, the west facade is distinguished by its sobriety: a semi-circular portal with several rolls of soberly sculpted mouldings, flanked by flat buttresses. The bell tower, set on the transept crossing, is a square tower crowned with a polygonal spire that dominates the hillside. The side absidioles retain their original Lombard arches, a rare detail in the region. The interior features pointed barrel vaults over the central nave, supported by columns with capitals featuring plant hooks and historiated figures, the work of highly skilled stonemasons. The slightly raised choir houses a composite liturgical furnishings, with a mix of late-Gothic choir stalls, 15th-century Flemish tapestries and fragments of Romanesque wall paintings uncovered during modern restoration work. Natural light, directed eastwards through the choir windows, creates a low-angled glow at certain times of the day, revealing the living grain of the tufa.
Related Figures
Louis XI — roi de France, grand dévot de Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly, lui offrit plusieurs tapisseries issues des collections royales lors de ses séjours à Saumur vers 1472-1474Foulques Nerra — comte d'Anjou (987-1040), bâtisseur prolifique dont l'impulsion religieuse prépara le terrain aux grandes fondations romanes angevinesRené d'Anjou — dit le Bon Roi René, mécène majeur des arts en Anjou au XVe siècle, dont l'entourage contribua à l'enrichissement du trésor de NantillyProsper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, acteur de la première classification de 1840 qui protégea Nantilly parmi les tous premiers édifices inscritsEugène Viollet-le-Duc — théoricien de la restauration au XIXe siècle dont les préceptes influencèrent les premières campagnes de consolidation de l'édifice
