Église Sainte-Catherine, Gothic church in La Flotte, France.
Église Sainte-Catherine is a church in La Flotte featuring a neoclassical facade from 1818 and medieval ribbed vaults inside. The bell tower was elevated in 1765 and continues to define the center of the town.
A 12th-century chapel dependent on Mauléon Castle preceded the church; the Gothic structure dates from the 14th–15th centuries. After damage in the Huguenot wars, it was restored in 1627, enlarged in 1742, and the bell tower was raised about six metres in 1765. During the Revolution it became the Temple of Reason and was repaired in 1805.
The eleven stained glass windows created between 1876 and 1878 by the Besseyrias company from Périgueux show religious scenes throughout the interior. They shape the light and character of the nave, telling biblical stories through colored glass.
The church stands in the centre of La Flotte, beside its former presbytery. The south portal, in Flamboyant Gothic style, and the eleven stained-glass windows are the listed elements to look for. The oldest sections, including the western nave bays and the crossing under the bell tower, form a kind of porch before the main nave used for services.
The oldest parts of the church, including the south wall with its Flamboyant Gothic portal, survive from a Gothic building of the 14th–15th centuries. This section now forms a kind of porch before the nave used for services, and the bell tower above it keeps a ribbed vault interrupted by an oculus.
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