Église Notre-Dame de Vire, Medieval Gothic church in Vire, France

The Église Notre-Dame de Vire is a Gothic church built of granite quarried south of the town. Its 13th-century nave, south transept and tower, 15th-century north transept and side aisles, and 16th-century chevet with the Rosary Chapel show successive building phases. The west portal keeps Romanesque capitals from the 12th-century chapel, and the north choir wall has a Renaissance door called the Porte de la Petite Poissonnerie.

A Romanesque chapel outside the castle's first wall, built around 1150, left its west wall and carved capitals, which survive inside the west portal. From about 1230 a Gothic church rose on those foundations and was dedicated to Notre-Dame on 20 July 1272. It was enlarged until the 16th century, when the flamboyant choir was raised, attributed to the master builder of Mont-Saint-Michel abbey. Bombed on 6 June 1944, it was restored in 1948 and listed as a monument historique since 1862.

The three bells installed on 1 July 1955 were cast at Villedieu-les-Poêles and each has a name: Jeanne-Marie (2.5 tonnes, B), Hélène-Pierre (1.8 tonnes, C sharp) and Raymonde-Madeleine (1.2 tonnes, D sharp). Inside, the north wall of the choir holds a Renaissance doorway known as the porte de la Petite Poissonnerie.

The church stands in Vire Normandie, in the Calvados department of Normandy, and is listed as a monument historique since 1862. The west portal keeps Romanesque capitals from the 12th-century chapel that preceded it. Inside, look on the north wall of the choir for the Renaissance door called the porte de la Petite Poissonnerie.

Henri-Georges Clouzot shot part of his 1948 film Manon in the damaged church before its restoration. The granite west portal keeps two Romanesque pillars and capitals from the 12th-century chapel of Saint-Blaise that stood here before the Gothic building.