Église de la Trinité d'Angers, Gothic church in Angers, France.
Trinity Church in Angers is a Gothic house of prayer featuring a central nave with side chapels running along its length. Inside, a three-bay vault system divides the space, with each section decorated with different keystone designs.
In 1028 Foulque Nerra and his wife Hildegarde founded the abbey of Notre-Dame-de-la-Charité, later the abbey of Ronceray. From the second half of the 11th century the abbesses built a parish church beside it for the growing congregation. Rebuilt at the end of the 12th century, the church survived the Revolution intact; Charles Joly-Leterme reworked it in neo-Romanesque style between 1864 and 1880.
The 1873 main altar, carved in polychrome stone at the Saint-Joseph workshop in the Doutre, carries a rare Trinitarian motif with a statue at its top, inspired by Italian art. Around Jesus stand the apostles, but Judas is replaced by Paul. The tabernacle door shows Christ teaching on an enamelled background.
The church stands in the Doutre district on the right bank of the Maine, bordered by Boulevard Descazeaux to the south and the École nationale des Arts et Métiers to the north; it is oriented south-east. The south facade on the boulevard has a neo-Romanesque porch with friezes of small human and animal mascaron heads.
The 1540 lantern tower at the crossing is the work of Angers Renaissance architect Jean de l'Espine; the statues of the evangelists on it were added in the 19th century. Inside, every keystone of the nave vault is different, and the central one is known as a "hanging vault" keystone.
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