Well here I am in my road warrior trips to the wonderful Loire valley . This is an area you can easily spent a lifetime and do not see it all, awesome. I have seen plenty around here, but decided to come back to one not been in years… before blogging! The town of Rigny-Ussé is in the Indre et Loire dept 37 of the Centre Val de Loire region of my belle France, This was mix with other post and had more pictures so decided to split and tell you more on the Notre Dame de la Trinité Church of Rigny-Ussé !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
The Notre Dame de la Trinité Church is mentioned for the first time in 1139 in a document confirming the domains of Cormery Abbey, issued by Pope Innocent II. It was located within the walls of the Château d’Ussé (see post) and was later the seat of a priory of the abbey under the current church, The archeological research has found the remains of two previous churches, the first built at the turn of the 7C and 8C, the second at the end of the 10C. They also revealed, around the church, the existence of large stone buildings, contemporary with the first church. At that time, Rigny was an estate of the monastery of Saint-Martin de Tours.
In the 15C, the region of Saint-Benoît-la-Forêt and Rigny was a regular place of stay for King Louis XI who came to mass at Notre Dame de Rigny and signs ordinances and missive letters there. The Collegiate Notre-Dame de la Trinité built between 1521 and 1535, the collegiate church of Ussé, dedicated to the Virgin and Saint Anne, serves as a private oratory and funeral chapel. The basket-handle entrance door is surmounted by an entablature and a curved shell pediment. The flames of the arch are decorated with seventeen medallions from which appear the busts of the twelve Apostles on the sides with Christ in the center. To the right of Christ, and from top to bottom are Peter, John, James the Greater, Andrew, Thomas, and possibly James the Minor. The four medallions at the bottom have Death as their theme. glazed earthenware.
By one stained glass window you will see Saint Joseph and the Child, Saint Anne and the Virgin. The Notre-Dame de la Trinité Church appears on the ground in the form of a large Latin cross with significant dimensions: 39 meters in length and 26.50 meters in width at the transept,
Access to the parish church was very uncomfortable, you needed to gofrom the village near the castle to the church, by a path called “the path of the mass”, which crossed the forest to the west entrance of the church, a path which still exists to this day. Under Napoleon III, four fifths of the village’s population lived in “Ussé” (around the castle) and no longer in “Rigny” (in the valley). At this time, the Marquise de La Rochejaquelein, owner of the Château d’Ussé, received an important inheritance from a lady Georget, responsible for having a new church built in the town of Ussé. Following the arrangements made with the town ; the new church was built 1858 – 1859, the town cedes the Notre Dame de la Trinité Church to Mme de La Rochejaquelein with a few acres of land around it, on the condition of maintaining it in good condition and guaranteeing access to it for pilgrims and other manifestations of worship, Mme de La Rochejaquelein ceded land to the town to create the new communal cemetery, commissioned in 1865. Notre Dame therefore found itself owned by the château… and quite alone in its valley. In 1885, the de Blacas family acquired the castle and has owned it ever since. They,also ,maintains the Notre Dame de la Trinité Church. In 1983, the church and 22 acres of land around it were sold for a symbolic franc to the Teillay Forest Park Association, They maintained and upkeep today,
The city of Rigny-Ussé on its heritage : http://www.rigny-usse.fr/points-d-inerets-et-site-remarquables.html
The Association du parc forestier de Teillayon the Notre Dame de la Trinité Church of Rigny-Ussé : https://www.notredamederigny.fr/histoire/
There you go folks, a nice initial run and more to come stay tune. This is me , us in the road warrior trips of my beautiful Loire valley , the valley of the kings, and my belle France ,where else!! Hope you enjoy this introduction in the small cute town of Rigny-Ussé.
And remember, happy travels, good health , and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 