NOTRE DAME DES ARDILLIERS

We have been whizzing past this church for the past couple of weeks trying to figure out when it is open. We visited this place five years ago when we first came to this area with Vladimir but we had forgotten why it is such a special place. Finally, tonight on our way home from a day of checking things out in Saumur we noticed the door was open and figured out that we could stop and visit.
Inside is a splendid church. An Italianate dome added in the 17th century and rebuilt after the Battle of Saumur in 1940 is the setting for a rotunda of eight smaller chapels. Above the chapels were eight medallions showing images of the four Evangelists and the four Doctors of the Church. Beyond this antechamber was the nave with a high alter that depicted the Crucifixion. To the left of this main alter was a smaller altar dedicated to Cardinal Richelieu and to the right another altar that had a large scene of the Flight into Egypt (pyramids and palm trees included).
The history of this church is particularly interesting. The church was built where a “Pieta” statue was found and an ancient spring gushed out of the hillside. In the 15th century the statue became the centre of a cult and the church that was built to house it became a major pilgrimage site. Later as the cult grew in importance the church was patronized by powerful people and became a royal chapel. Saumur grew rapidly during the period following the Edict of Nantes but after the king revoked the Edict half of Saumur’s population, the Huguenots, fled the city and a period of stagnation and poverty befell the city. During the Revolution the church was ransacked and priests of the parish were guillotined. Then the greatest tragedy of all: the bombing and firestorms of the Battle of Saumur that destroyed the rotunda and cupola.
For now, all the wars are over for this beautifully restored church. It was such a pleasure to drop our one euro piece into the box to turn on the lights in the nave. Around the rotunda is an inscription dedicated to the Virgin by “Ludivocus XIV. Dei Gratia Franc. Et Navar Rex.”, a reminder that Louis XIV, The Sun King, was present here as a child.