the Heritage Foundation grants €50,000 for the Notre-Dame d’Aigurande church

Behind the calm of Aigurande, a small town in Berry, stands a monument that seems to defy the centuries and the elements: the Notre-Dame church. Built at 11^e century, its massive bell tower-porch, worthy of a fortress, has watched over the village for generations. But the building, with its weathered stones and ornate chapels, is now in urgent need of help. It could receive it faster than expected since, last April, it was selected among a hundred religious buildings as part of the major national collection in favor of the religious heritage of the villages of France.

Organized by the Heritage Foundation, the program, dedicated to the safeguarding of religious monuments in small towns, makes it possible to mobilize funds for emblematic sites often forgotten by tourist circuits and major funding. This Tuesday, November 12, 2024, the Heritage Foundation announced the first allocations for the Centre-Val de Loire region. Thanks to this initiative, Notre-Dame d'Aigurande will benefit from an endowment of €50,000.

An eclectic and fragile heritage

Nearly 40 meters long, Notre-Dame d'Aigurande is a model of architectural eclecticism. Romanesque at its core, it is enriched, over the centuries, with Gothic and Renaissance elements, testimonies of bygone eras which overlap and respond to each other. The four chapels – Notre-Dame du Mont Carmel, Saint-Sébastien, Saint-Eutrope and Saint-Sylvain – constitute the heart of this religious building. But these sacred spaces are abandoned, marked by humidity and erosion. Their masonry, framework and painted decorations, everything today calls for urgent restoration.

Started in 2022, the planned work, worth €336,000, must extend until 2026. And the project is titanic: restoring each stone to its former glory, saving the delicate paintings of the chapels, bringing this church back to life in beyond prayers. For the moment, around thirty donors are counted in the online kitty, for a total of €9,140.