St. Peter's Church, Chartres, France

Saint Peter’s (Saint-Pierre) church was formerly an abbey church of the Benedictines. The abbey church was founded in the 7th century with the help of Queen Bathilde, the wife of Clovis II. The most important vestige of the church is a convent buildings located on the south side, later rebuilt in early 18th century, and nowadays served as a school named Lycee Marceau.

The church was destroyed several times by Normans between 858 and 911. It has also been damaged by fire in 1077 and 1134. Reconstruction of the apse and ambulatory has taken in 1165 under the direction of Bilduard with less financial support. The tomb of Gilduin, a bishop of Breton, who died in 1077 and buried in the church was discovered during the work. This discovery encouraged donations from the congregations and allowed the continuation of the reconstruction of the church and also supported the construction of Chartres cathedral tour and royal portal.

The most ancient part of the church is the bell tower on the west side, built around the year 1000 AD. The nave and the aisles date from the early 13th century. The church was finally completed around the year 1320. During French revolution, the church has seized and served as a saltpeter factory - then finally returned to its original function as a worship place in 1803 and nowadays regularly host the Organ Festival. St. Peter’s church opens from Monday to Friday at 2pm to 6pm and you can enter the church for free.

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User Reviews

K R (3 years ago)
Nice eglise with traditional architecture. The coloured glass windows make a fabulous view of sun light reflecting inside the building. The church looks as much beautiful from the inside as it does from the outside. There is a very peaceful and divine feeling you could experience once inside.

Nicola Passaro (3 years ago)
Amazing church worth a visit . Of course not recommending a tour on a Sunday ( easy to understand the reason)

Taku KURIBAYASHI (3 years ago)
Nice looking ancient church but needs more maintenance as walls and the ceiling look like they are falling apart

Linh Nguyen (4 years ago)
I love how it ages. I love how it looks really ancien and original. I hope even if they restore it they'll still keep that real look.

Yaron Bental (4 years ago)
Spectacularly beautiful, enormous, i love how the old is preserved and more modern work is intertwined and fit perfectly

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