Eglise Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens de Brienne-la-Vieille

Présentation

The Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens church in Brienne-la-Vieille stands on a site already occupied in the Gallo-Roman period and has one of the oldest elevations in the department. Indeed, its nave, with its simple forms, has four small, slightly splayed windows open at the top of the walls, combining brick and stone in their construction, which may date from the 9th-10th centuries; the nave is of a beautiful volume for the period. Five wider and taller windows were opened in the 17th or 18th century. The nave is paneled in a hull. The exposed structural elements (tie beams and kingposts) show 16th-century layouts. The western portal, from the 12th century, comes from the Abbey of Basse-Fontaine, secularized in 1773. On a crossing of the transept that may also date from the 9th-10th centuries, a flamboyant style architecture and choir were rebuilt (around 1520). This new architecture was taken up again at the very beginning of the 17th century (consecration in 1615), a campaign during which the two transept arms were restored. The old stained glass windows were installed during two campaigns. The first are slightly later than the time of construction of the new apse, and date from the second quarter of the 16th century; the others are contemporary with the alterations of the choir and transept completed at the beginning of the 17th century. This ensemble is today incomplete and has suffered many losses and modifications over time. The oldest stained glass windows feature a Crucifixion and saints painted in colored glass, grisaille and silver yellow (Saint Remi full-length, Saint Claude and Saint Roch in roundels). The central bay, dated 1536, shows two praying donors, Jehan Huet and his wife Guyotte Verdin, presented by the Virgin of the Seven Sorrows and by Saint John the Baptist. The stained glass windows from the early 17th century, in grisaille and silver yellow, show figures of apostles and Christ of the Resurrection. The glass decoration was completed in the contemporary period, notably in the south arm of the transept where we see a stained glass window from 1876 dedicated to Saint John the Baptist by E. Virot, from Troyes, and a decorative window (borders) from 1968. The old stained glass windows were restored before the Second World War and then removed in 1939-1940. Some of them were restored again after re-installation in 1951-54 and around 1960 by J. Laurent then J.-J. Gruber. The building and stained glass windows were classified as historical monuments (as buildings) on July 30, 1907. The church is part of the Aube Stained Glass Route.