Eglise Saint Etienne

The church of Saint Etienne d'Aigrefeuille d'Aunis was built at different times. Its walls have preserved remains from the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Romanesque art is present in this building with its transept with broken barrel vaults. The church is a 12th century building. Initially, it was a modest Romanesque building that was remodelled several times. This former dependency of the Soubise chapter is a composite building, enlarged at several periods in the Middle Ages. The church of Saint Etienne retained its ancient appearance until the radical restoration that affected it in the 19th century. The architects, Massiou and Courlineau, profoundly altered its external silhouette, removing the high chambers established on the vaults, redoing a good part of the facings and windows and, above all, substituting a high bell tower topped by a spire in the south-western corner, on the outside. The choir was given ribbed vaults. All this was completed in 1897.