Église Saint-Étienne de Chinon, 15th century Catholic church in medieval Chinon, France.
Église Saint-Étienne is a Gothic church with a single seven-bay nave and a five-sided apse, built in the Angevin Gothic style. Its bell tower rises on the north side of the fifth bay, and the exterior shows tall buttresses capped with pointed finials. Inside, ribbed vaults and tall stained-glass windows in the apse light the stone interior.
A Romanesque church stood here from the 11th century; its bell tower base is the only surviving element. The present building was rebuilt from the reign of Charles VII and finished around 1477. It was inscribed as a monument historique on 18 June 1962.
The stained glass windows from the 19th century depict detailed religious narratives created by the Lucien-Léopold Lobin workshop. These works of colored glass shape how light fills the interior and tell biblical stories to visitors who look up.
The church sits along Jean-Jacques-Rousseau Street on the right bank of the Vienne River, within walking distance of Chinon's historical center. Visitors can easily explore this area on foot and see how the medieval town is organized around the river.
A fresco from the former Saint-Mexme collegiate church and a statue of Joan of Arc sculpted by François Sicard are displayed within the nave. These artworks bring together different chapters of local religious history in a single space.
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