Yonne Sens Saint-Pierre-le-Rond 07062010 - panoramio

The church of St. Pierre le Rond is a Catholic church in

Sens, Yonne Sens () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km southeast from Paris. Sens is a sub-prefecture and the second largest city of the department, the sixth largest in the region. It i ...

, at 115 kilometers South West from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. It is dedicated to

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

and is a church of the Archdiocese of Sens-Auxerre.

History

The church was founded in 13th century. Le Rond means 'round' from the shape of the

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 to ...

which was elevated in 1728. In 1791, one of the bells was given to in Paron. At the time of the French Revolution, the priest escaped from the church, disguised as a

cart A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

er. Two citizens from Sens, Macé and Thomas, managed to buy the church and so saved the building from revolutionary fury. They said to authorities that they would transform it as a fodder barn. In fact they saved all the

stained glass window Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

s and furniture. After the Revolution, they sold it back to the priest, Fr. Rupier, who gave it to the

Cathedral of Sens Sens Cathedral () is a Catholic cathedral in Sens in Burgundy, eastern France. The cathedral, dedicated to Saint Stephen, is the seat of the Archbishop of Sens. Sens was the first cathedral to be built in the Gothic architectural style (the B ...

in 1797. The church was consecrated and restored. In 1965 after

Vatican II The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilic ...

, the church was closed and never re-opened. Today it is in a desperate state. It has been registered since 1965 as a ''

monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

''.

Architecture

The large nave dates from the 14th century and the North aisle from the beginning of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

(end of 15th century). The woodwork and the

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

go back to 16th century, so does the framing of the vaulted nave. Some pieces of furniture are registered into Monuments historiques, such as an ''Entombment of Christ'', the 18th-century

grille Grill or grille may refer to: Food * Barbecue grill, a device or surface used for cooking food, usually fuelled by gas or charcoal, or the part of a cooker that performs this function * Flattop grill, a cooking device often used in restaurants, ...

s, one statue of St. Roman (bishop of

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

in 6th century) and another of St. Bernard, the Renaissance

s (some created by

Jean Cousin the Elder Jean Cousin (1500 – before 1593) was a French painter, sculptor, etcher, engraver, and geometrician. He is known as "Jean Cousin the Elder" to distinguish him from his son Jean Cousin the Younger, also an artist. Career Cousin was born a ...

), one statue of St. Anne in stone, a

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

of St. Hubertus. The stalls are from 16th century. Two paintings are remarkable, one with ''St. Peter freed by angels'' and another ''Madonna with a

dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

''. Other paintings show the Evangelists. File:Sens, église Saint-Pierre-le-Rond, vitrail.jpg, Renaissance stained glass window of the North aisle File:Église Saint-Pierre-le-Rond Autel.jpg, Damaged 18th-century altar File:Sens, église Saint-Pierre-le-Rond, collatéral.jpg, North aisle An association has been created in 2016 to save the church but nothing has been done yet.↑ Nathalie Hadrbolec, « Saint-Pierre-le-Rond, l'église mystérieuse », Au fil de l'Yonne, le magazine du Conseil départemental, n° 124, February 2016.

Notes

{{coord, 48.19632, 3.28135, format=dms, type:landmark_region:FR, display=title Sens Pierre le Ron