Église Saint-Hilaire de Pesmes, Romanesque parish church in Pesmes, France.

Église Saint-Hilaire de Pesmes has a 40 m long, 6 m wide central nave of four bays extended by the base of the bell tower, flanked by lower side aisles with large round-arched windows. The Romanesque choir with smooth pilasters supports the tower, whose steep roof is covered in glazed polychrome tiles. A Gothic porch with a high chapel above and a frescoed Romanesque portal stands at the entrance.

Founded in 1153 at the request of François Grignet and his wife Isabeau Renevier, the church began with the portal and choir. The Premonstratensians of Corneux built the naves in the 13th century; the Saint-Jean-Baptiste chapel followed in 1381-1386 for Marguerite de Vergy. In 1525 the chevet was cut back for a bay and a three-sided apse, and the bell tower was rebuilt in the Comtois manner in 1774.

The tympanum of the Romanesque portal carries a fresco of a God of Pity adored by the founders, François Grignet and Isabeau Renevier, shown in court dress. In the Andelot chapel, founded by Jean d'Andelot, first squire of Charles V, the altarpiece shows two sibyls sometimes read as portraits of his wives, Philippote de Houes and Guillemette d'Igny.

The church stands in the village of Pesmes, in Haute-Saône. Enter through the Gothic porch, whose upper chapel is hidden behind the organ tribune; the Romanesque portal tympanum fresco of 1539 faces you. The nave runs 40 m long, 6 m wide and 13 m high, with the bell tower above the choir. Look for the 1774 comtoise-style tower roof of glazed polychrome tiles.

The organ case was built in the 17th century in Auxonne by Guillaume Mourez and installed here in 1727; it sits on a round-arched tribune that hides the upper chapel above the porch. Look up at the gallery as you enter to see it.