Église Saint-Aré

Decize

On the mound overlooking the Loire, the church of Saint-Aré holds beneath its chancel a crypt built around a cave, and perhaps, according to Wikipedia, around a former Gallo-Roman temple. The Mérimée record dates the chancel and crypt to the 7th and 11th centuries, and the rest of the church to the 12th, 15th and 19th centuries; Wikipedia instead places the chancel and crypt in the 11th and 12th centuries. A statue of the Virgin known as Notre-Dame de sous-terre, reputed for its miracles, was long venerated here. The furnishings include bronze basin-shaped holy-water stoups and a Renaissance altarpiece. The church bears the name of Aré, or Arégius, bishop of Nevers in the mid-6th century. According to tradition, his body, placed in a boat on the Loire, sailed alone up the river as far as Decize, where it was buried; it is said that pilgrims came at once to his tomb, and the church was raised on the spot. Under the name of Saint Aré, the bishop became the protector of the town and the patron of the parish. In 1842, the collapse of the walls of the neighbouring château destroyed the nave, part of the transept and several side chapels, hence the 19th-century rebuilding. Scattered after the Revolution, the saint's relics were partly returned in 1875 and placed in a new shrine. The chancel and crypt have been listed as historic monuments since 1875, and the rest of the church has been registered as a historic monument since 1991.

Wikipédia — Église Saint-Aré de Decize ↗

Getting there : In the centre of Decize, rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau, on the mound above the Loire. The opening hours of the church and the conditions for visiting the crypt are not documented (to be checked).

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound