So here I continue in lovely Chinon and after some other monuments, let me tell you about the Church Saint Etienne of Chinon !! They are plenty and been over a weekend in service or closed; nevertheless the architecture , history and know them is plenty for this road warrior traveler. Anyway Chinon is just 3h15 with tolls or 3h45 without tolls, from my house and we will be back!
Chinon is located in the Indre-et-Loire department, 37 in the Centre-Val de Loire region. 47 km from Tours, 30 km from Saumur, 80 km from Angers, 85 km from Poitiers, and 305 km from Paris, Also about 314 km (about 195 miles) from my house. We like to go on the D751 linked to Tours, which partly bypasses the city. There are so many monuments in Chinon, and of course, plenty of churches. We took a ride by car as hilly roads and my Dad on wheelchair would have been difficult if impossible. We stop each time we reach a church.
The Saint-Étienne Church , the parish church in the district of Saint-Étienne, was entirely rebuilt in the 15C on a very simple plan: a single nave and a very bright choir lit by numerous windows. The church is located on the right bank of the Vienne river at the foot of the hillside, east of the heart of the medieval town, along rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau, the main east-west route in the Middle Ages.
A Romanesque church was built in the 11C. The church visible today is a reconstruction of this first church of which only the base of the bell tower remains. The initial reconstruction, begun under Charles VII, and completed between 1460 and 1490. The stained glass windows, for their part, come from the 19C, The 15C church had a large bell tower, but this was destroyed during the French revolution by 1789. The Saint-Étienne Church consists of a single vessel with seven bays. The first five, from the west, constitute the nave and the last two the choir. The steeple is on the north side of the fifth span; a sacristy faces it on the south side. A pentagonal apse constitutes the bedside. A fresco, found during restoration work on the Saint-Mexme collegiate church, is displayed against the north wall of the nave of the church, which also houses a statue of Joan of Arc
Beautiful 19C stained glass in the large windows of the choir , Life of Saint Etienne and scenes from the history of Chinon. The apse contains stained glass depicting scenes of religious importance in Chinon and the surrounding regions like the meeting of the queen and the future Saint Radegund and Saint Jean de Chinon in the 6C; the miracle of Saint Mexme saving Chinon from a siege with rain and a storm in the 5C; the death of Martin de Tours at Candes-Saint-Martin in 397; and the meeting of Joan of Arc and the future Charles VII in 1429. They were produced in the 19C. It also houses the first statue of Joan of Arc in a church, placed there in 1900, two decades before her canonization.
The Parish of Chinon on the Church St Stephens : https://www.paroisse-chinon.fr/eglise-saint-etienne-37500-chinon.html
The City of Chinon on its heritage : https://www.ville-chinon.com/loisirs/tourisme-et-patrimoine/decouvrir-ma-ville
There you go folks, a nice Church of Saint Etienne of Chinon, a must to visit me think. We will be back for more soon. Hope you enjoy the post and do visit. And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
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