Eglise Saint-Pierre

The story begins with a Carolingian church that became a Benedictine priory. The Benedictines came from the abbey of Saint-Claude in the Jura. A complete overhaul of this church, around 1170, led to the present edifice. Saint-Pierre de Bar-sur-Aube therefore dates from the late 12th century. Until the French Revolution, it was both priory and parish church: the monks reserved the choir, transept and radiating chapels; the faithful were content with the nave and aisles. Clairvaux, fifteen kilometers away, influenced the style of the church: very simple, without historiated capitals or large frescoes, and with white stained-glass windows. So decided the Cistercian ideal and the spirit of Saint Bernard. The few stained glass windows that can be seen today date from the 19th century. They embellish the apse and transept. In a side chapel, there is a fine altarpiece by Jean-Baptiste Bouchardon (1667-1742), formerly the high altar of the collegiate church of Saint-Maclou. Finally, Saint-Pierre church boasts a remarkable collection of 16th-century statues from the Trojan school.
Picturesque: the south and west sides are enriched by a 14th-century wooden gallery known as the "halloy". This was once an "aître", or cemetery shelter. Sources report that, at the time of the Champagne fairs, Provins merchants used it to shelter their stalls. This wooden gallery is still well preserved.
During the French Revolution, the church was converted into a theophilanthropic temple, and then into a fodder store. During Napoleon I's 1814 French campaign to repel invading armies, wounded soldiers were crammed into the church for treatment. The furniture was used as firewood. They burned it to the ground.

DATAtourisme France