During the 2024 International Cultural Heritage Fair on October 26, the town of Preuilly-sur-Claise was awarded a national prize by the Sites and Monuments association at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. The Second Work prize rewards the preservation and restoration of the interior decor of the All-Saints Chapel. Gérard Thoreau, first deputy, and Bernard de la Motte, honorary president of the Archaeological Society of Preuilly-sur-Claise (Sap), represented the commune.
A chapel narrowly saved
The religious building was deconsecrated in 1905. In poor condition and considered uninteresting, the municipal council voted for its destruction in 1952. The funeral chapel of the old cemetery was saved in 1953 thanks to its purchase by the Loch architect Henri Lhéir de Chezelle and by its registration as a Historic Monument.
It became municipal property again in 2001 under the municipality of Yves Maveyraud. It was not until 2013 that the municipality, under the aegis of Gilles Bertucelli, and the Sap found the funding to carry out this safeguarding project. Ten years later, the restoration work on the chapel was completed and inaugurated in July 2023 by Mayor Jean-Paul Charrier.
“The jury appreciated the joint work and perseverance which allowed the town of Preuilly-sur-Claise and the Sap to carry out this restoration”underlines Marie-Hélène Louvard, of the Sites and Monuments association. This success is the result of a collaboration between associations, individuals and institutions (Drac, commune, Department of Indre-et-Loire, the Heritage Foundation, sponsorship of AG2R La Mondiale, the Foundation for the Safeguarding of French art, Sap and its donors).
Thursday, November 7, the mayor of Preuilly-sur-Claise and the co-president of the Sap, Yolande Deberne, went to Amboise to participate in the presentation of the labels and diplomas of the Heritage Foundation. It is thanks to the search for financing that all of the heritage will be able to continue to live and will be passed on to future generations.
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