Église Saint-Étienne d'Ars-en-Ré, Gothic church in Ars-en-Ré, France

The église Saint-Étienne d'Ars-en-Ré is a Gothic church built of rough grey stone, shaped as a cross with a long single-nave Romanesque west section and a three-aisled nave of three bays. A square stone tower with a clock face carries a white spire with dark trim, rising over 40 m. The recessed arched portal has concentric carved archivolts between two cylindrical columns; total length is 50.20 m.

The structure originated in the 6th century as a rectangular priory and was later transformed through Gothic renovations in the 12th and 15th centuries. It was classified as a French historical monument in 1903, officially protecting its heritage status.

The black-and-white paint of the 15th-century spire was not decorative: it served as a daymark so sailors could pick the tower out against the horizon from over 20 km at sea. The tower holds three bells, Françoise (the large one, giving the mi), Marie-Victoire (the middle, giving the sol) and Louise (the small, giving the si). The spire also appears in Raphaël 4 et la Bague d'Argent.

The church stands in the village centre, and the black-and-white spire is visible from far off, so it works as a landmark for finding your way. The building was fully restored between 2017 and 2022, inside and out; a later phase covers the 12th-century Romanesque nave and the sacristy. The nave is 8.16 m high and the total length 50.20 m.

The church houses three named bells - Françoise, Marie-Victoire, and Louise - that have accompanied village life for generations. The bell tower is so distinctive that sailors historically used it as a navigation aid visible from as far as 20 kilometers away.