Collegiate church of Saint-Austrégésile

The Saint-Martin church is located in Nohant-en-Graçay, in the Center-Val de Loire region. From its twelfth century Romanesque origin, there remains only the tower and thick pillars, decorated with figurations of animals and heads on the capitals. The single paneled nave is followed by a vaulted choir on intersecting primitive ribs.

Building of modest dimensions, with a simple plan consisting of a rectangular nave followed by a choir of the same plan and preceded by a canopy or caquetry. What makes this church particularly interesting are its Romanesque mural paintings discovered in the choir in 1911-1912. Through a thorough study of the style of the movements, clothing and hairstyle of the peasants, the date of the paintings could be fixed around the middle of the 12th century.

Built at the very beginning of the 11th century, the collegiate church of Notre-Dame (which housed a college of nine canons) is a Romanesque building. The nave, very simple, gives the whole complex a certain breadth. The 13th century bell tower, of composite architecture (reuse of elements from the 11th century and repair of the roof after the fire of 1910) is built in a break in the slope and dominates the wide and beautiful valley of the Yèvre.