Église Saint-Maixent de Souché, Church in Souché neighborhood, Niort, France

Église Saint-Maixent de Souché is a Catholic church with a long nave of four bays and no transept, extended by a neo-Gothic choir with ribbed vaults lit by a double stained-glass window. Its bell tower, built in 1857, stands at the south-east corner. The church is not oriented: the choir faces west.

Built in the 12th century on old Romanesque foundations, the church was damaged during religious wars and rebuilt in the 1600s and 1700s, with the vaults collapsing on Easter night in 1788 and being restored by the following year.

The church holds colorful stained glass windows from the late 1800s showing Saint Maixent and Saint Hilaire, and a headless statue of Saint Maixent at the entrance reminds visitors of the turbulent past and the faith that survived it.

The church belongs to the Saint-Pierre-et-Paul parish of Niort, in the Diocese of Poitiers, and is still used for worship. Enter through the red double doors at the top of about ten stone steps, which have metal handrails on both sides. The choir faces west, so the layout is reversed compared with most churches.

The headless statue of Saint Maixent stands in a niche with a neo-Gothic canopy, not by the portal; it was decapitated during the Revolution. The saint tramples the fairy Mélusine underfoot, a local legend figure rather than a generic creature.