Eglise Paroissiale Notre-Dame de Beauvoir

Well known through the work of Jacques Thirion and monumental and artistic inventory of Aigues country (see bibliography), history and architecture of Notre-Dame de Beauvoir are remarkable in more ways than one. Multiple transformations of the building are directly related to the eventful history of the village. The first citation of the church date back to 1096, and describe the place as a dependency of the abbey of Saint-André Villeneuve-lez-Avignon as a Benedictine priory. The original Romanesque church is small and has only cross nave of three bays and an apse. Consequence of demographic expansion of the thirteenth and fourteenth century, the church became too small to accommodate all the faithful and must enlarge. The nave is extended to a fourth bay, the apse destroyed in 1343 and replaced by a fourth bay of the nave extended by the present choir in 1348 and approached the south side chapel. Two centuries later (1560 and 1561), it is still not enough and we must again enlarge. The three vaults located south side are connected by destroying the partitions which separate, which leads to a side fourth vault is constructed. The large door is remade in 1589. The roof of the nave and the tower are enhanced. When Jean Gautier began its construction repair the fortifications of the city after the religious wars of the late 1580s, the church that is attached to walls undergoes transformations. A vaulted hall is built vertically choir to serve as a monitoring post of defense (1589, 1590). In 1657, the sacristy was built against the south side of the choir, and during the seventeenth century, three side chapels north. In 1708, an earthquake brought down the roof, the upper parts are rebuilt and opened three windows on the south wall. The tower dates from this period (the wrought iron campanile of the nineteenth century). The facade as we see today date from 1709.In the tower wall windows 3 2 bells are dated 1584 and the central bell, named Anne was cast in 2008 as the one currently in the campanile, named Luce. These last two were baptized during a solemn service Sunday, February 24, 2008.

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