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St. Andrew's church in the village of Villaines-les-Rochers,
the basket weaving centre of the Loire Valley, is not very attractive from
the outside due to alterations over the centuries, from its 11th century
origins to its 19th century 're-fit'...
...but inside is a surprise. The interior walls of the church
including the vaults of the nave, transept and choir were painted with
frescoes under the supervision of Louis-Marie Bodin Charles, Count of
Galembert, who also funded the project, in the second half of the 19th
century.
There are windows from the Lobin 'factory' but its also good
to see other windows by Jean-Prosper Florence (nave) and Lux-Fournier (south
gable).
The original church used to face east to west but when it was
enlarged to accommodate the the then growing population in the middle of the
19th century the
nave of the original 12th century church became the transept of the new
north-south church.
Architect Gustave Guérin (yes him again) was responsible for
the re-modelling of the church which works well inside but would not win any
prizes for the exterior!
The 12th century tower.
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