This Thursday morning, around 9:00 a.m., a tragedy struck Poitiers. While the parents of students at the Saint-Hilaire private school accompanied their children to class, some noticed some suspicious smoke escaping from the old Romanesque church of Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand. They were far from suspecting that a fire was spreading in the nave of this emblematic monument of the “city of a hundred bell towers”.
A controlled blaze
Alerted by the students’ parents, the firefighters quickly intervened with two trucks. As a precaution, the police also set up a security perimeter around the building. Upon entering the church, the firefighters discovered a fireplace in the center of the nave, at the location of the wooden altar, not far from the sacred relics of Saint Hilaire, the great Poitevin bishop. Despite the thick smoke, firefighters managed to extinguish the fire in a few minutes, around 10:00 a.m. Fortunately, no casualties were reported and the fire did not affect the structure of the church or its roof.
However, the material damage is considered considerable and would have damaged the works of art of this monument, which has been classified as a world heritage site since 1998. The Vienne prefecture announced that it was opening an investigation for deliberate damage following the first findings made on site. Prefect Jean-Marie Girier also “asked the national police to intensify their patrols around and in places of worship in the city of Poitiers, day and night, as well as increased vigilance throughout the department”.
A symbol of Poitiers
The Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand church is a fundamental element in the history of Poitiers. In the early days of Western Christianity, a first building was erected on the very tomb of Saint Hilary, bishop and defender of the Christian faith against the heresy of Arianism. Worn out by these struggles and these battles, the holy man joined his Creator in 367 at the age of 52. Very quickly, his burial became a place of pilgrimage, meditation and miracles, leading to his rapid canonization and the construction of a church which, over the centuries, expanded to become a basilica then a collegiate church in the 11th century.e century. Ravaged by the Wars of Religion and the Revolution, the church was saved from destruction thanks to Prosper Mérimée, Inspector General of Historical Monuments, who had it classified in 1847. Even today, the relics of Saint Hilaire, proclaimed doctor of the Church in 1851 by Pope Pius IX, rest in a crypt under the choir, just behind the altar where the fire broke out.
Another fire
This fire also revives the memory of sad events that occurred during the year in the Poitiers area. As a reminder, on June 9, 2024, the Saint-Jean-de-Montierneuf abbey church was desecrated and, on May 14, 2024, the Sainte-Thérèse church in Poitiers was also affected by the start of a fire. Added to this is also the destruction of a statue of the Sacred Heart in the Saint-Porchaire church. To date, no one responsible has been identified in these cases, although the human origin has also been confirmed. This climate of tension around religious buildings is causing increasing concern, particularly in Poitiers. As one Internet user pointed out, on X: “It’s strange, all the same, all these cases of fires in religious and especially Christian buildings. »
Print, save or send this article
