The City of Yssingeaux is continuing its heritage renovation and restoration program. At Saint-Pierre church, three monumental paintings in the choir have already been restored. Today, in view of this commitment, the town particularly wishes to renovate three quite damaged stained glass windows in the parish church. Hence the recent call for donations launched for their restoration, the cost of the work amounting to €71,580.
As part of this restoration, a complete overhaul of the network of leads is planned, the replacement of missing glass, the refixing of the links allowing the stained glass windows to be joined to the vergettes and the cleaning of the bays, in particular of the lower parts which have seen s accumulated a lot of dust which with humidity stuck to the glasses of the lower parts. It also involves putting in place new, more aesthetic exterior protections, because they are placed between the stained glass windows and the grilles.
A gradual restoration
Friday, December 20, in the presence of Father Rolland Bresson, priest of the Yssingeaux parish complex, Nicolas Haeusser, municipal councilor, presented the last restored stained glass window. “Two years ago, we had all the upper protections for the stained glass windows which were held by metal bars. We started with the one who was the sickest and had a stained glass window redone; we are going there gradually. It is the Thomas stained glass workshop in Puy-en-Velay which carries out the repairs. »
And the elected official explains: “All of the 19 stained glass windows in the church were made over 40 years, between 1860 and 1904; two are more recent, from the period 1941-1945. The stained glass window Saint-François Régis above the crib is finished, and the other two titled the Holy Family et Saint James the Greater will be restored during January-February 2025. In 2022, for the restoration, donations reached the sum of €5,000. For the current project, the patrons' club of the Heritage Foundation made a donation of €6,500 and the Foundation is asking the Region while the town hall is asking the Department. The more people give, the more it will help us. »
The opportunity to remember that donations are deductible at 66% of income taxes. The fundraising objective of €2,500 was quickly exceeded, with this already reaching €2,700 this weekend thanks to 15 donors. However, the collection remains open.
Practical. You can make a donation online via the website www.fondation-patrimoine.org or at Yssingeaux town hall with paper forms.
A church built in the 19th century
The parish of Yssingeaux is probably one of the oldest in the diocese, its ancient Romanesque church having welcomed the faithful for centuries. Due to its state of advanced disrepair, it was decided to raze it and rebuild it in the 19th century. From 1828 to 1838, in less than 10 years, a colossal project for the time took place in the city and it would take many years to complete the decorations.
The stained glass windows and low bays were only installed between 1850 and 1865. Like the care taken in the choice of paintings by great masters, the stained glass windows are of good quality for the 19th century and constitute a homogeneous and coherent whole. An important step consisted of the installation, in 1901, of eight stained glass windows in the upper bays. They were made by Mauvernay in pastel tones to represent scenes from the life of Christ (north bays) and the life of the Virgin (south bays).
