The Comtois steeple is a typical

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

churches with an imperial dome in

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Nearly 700 Comtois steeples remain in this eastern traditional province. This kind of steeple is incorporated into the entrance of the churches restored mainly during the eighteenth century after destructions in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

in that country and French conquest in 1678. The

cloister vault In architecture, a cloister vault (also called a pavilion vault) is a vault with four concave surfaces (patches of cylinders) meeting at a point above the center of the vault. It can be thought of as formed by two barrel vaults that cross at r ...

with raised sides ("dôme à pans relevés") and the polychrome glazed tiles on the roofs are typical characteristics of this regional church architecture.

Bibliography

* 1994 : Marielle Myotte, ''Entre terre et ciel : les clochers à l'impériale en Franche Comté'', Cetre F. * 2001 : Dominique Bonnet & Denis Maraux : ''Clochers comtois,'' (éd. La Taillanderie). * 2002 : Sylvie Debras; Samira Nezza; Denis Maraux & Jack Varlet : ''Clochers de Franche-Comté,'' (éd. Tigibus). Architecture in France Church architecture Churches in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Franche-Comté {{Church-architecture-stub