Saint-Symphorien Church - ANDARD Listed as a Historic Monument The village of Andard developed on the site of an old Gallo-Roman vicus 1, occupied from the 1st century BC to the end of the 4th century AD. Major excavations conducted from 1981 to 1984 have revealed the remains of ancient buildings, including those of a fanum 2 whose foundations are still visible in the gardens of the foyer. The parish is mentioned as early as the 11th century. The current church has masonry that are from this period, or even earlier. The plan of the church includes a single nave, large rectangular room covered with a framework hidden by a panelling and then a choir of the late Middle Ages. The bell tower, from the Romanesque period, is located on the south side of the choir. Its ground floor forms a lateral chapel. The church was until 1808 surrounded by its cemetery, replaced today by a square on which the monument to the dead has been erected. The old presbytery is located a few meters north of the church: it is an old manor house of the fifteenth century offered to the parish by the priest Guillaume de Tourneville at the end of the fifteenth century. The nave dates back to at least the 11th century, but some details of the construction show that it is probably older, especially the fact that its walls are built in small stones arranged in regular seats. In the south wall we can still see the bolt holes that were used by the masons to mount their scaffolding. The windows are pierced very high in the wall: they are in full arch 3, small, narrow. On the south side, these windows were pierced at the location of even older windows, underlined by thin bricks, as did the builders of the Gallo-Roman era. The remains of two Romanesque doors are easily identifiable. One of them, near the bell tower, redesigned in the eighteenth century, opened on the cemetery. The bell tower forms a massive tower whose two-thirds of the height are from the Romanesque period (12th century). The last level and the belfry and spire date from 1841. The base of the bell tower is surrounded by a gallery where parish meetings were held. The facade of the church has a portal redone in 1841. Along the north wall of the nave, an external staircase leads to the gallery. The choir dates from the 15th century. Inside, the visitor is struck by the presence of an important painted decoration on the walls of the nave. It was executed between 1939 and 1945 by an Angevin artist: Abel Pineau (1873-1895). The paintings represent the Passion of Christ (side walls) and scenes from the life of Saint Symphorien, patron of the church (wall between the nave and the choir). Made in a reduced and sober range of colors, these paintings give off a great force of emotion. The painter has chosen his models from the inhabitants of the village. The choir is dominated by an important 18th century marble and tuff altarpiece. The lateral niches house the statues of saint Symphorien, patron saint of the church and of saint René, highly honoured in Anjou. The stained glass windows of the choir are among the few stained glass windows of the fifteenth century preserved in Anjou. Their very high artistic quality demonstrates that this is a prestigious order. They once wore the arms of France, the king being lord of the parish. 1 Small rural town 2 Small square temple 3 Rounded

Address
Andard Mairie, 49800 Loire-Authion, France, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire, France