It used to be dedicated to Saint-Vigor.

Listed a place of historic interest from 1846 to 1878.

Admission free.

The site.

Built in the 16^th century, overlooking the walls of the city, the church dominates the rivers Eure and Seine. It crowns the medieval vault shaped by Crosne Tower and the walls. These features give our city a specific outline that makes one know Pont-de-l’Arche among a thousand cities. The best views on the church are from the banks of the river Eure, quai-Foch, and Beauregard lane (such a good name for it!).

The south façade.

You may compare the church in Pont-de-l’Arche to the one in Louviers. It was not completed, but it stands out because of a magnificent South façade. The latter shows stonework which really looks like lace; it was restored from 1865 to 1895 by MM^rs Simon, an architect in Rouen, and Lefort, an architect from the Historic monuments in Seine-Maritime. The gothic building may have inspired Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois, a native of Pont-de-l’Arche, who started speaking of « flamboyant Gothic style », referring the boldly-shaped sculptures at the windows which suggest flames. The buttresses between the windows are in fat the piers of the flying buttresses.

The architecture

The building consists of only one nave with six bays bordered by two aisles. The uncompleted apse accounts for the small size of the choir. The elevation inside the church is built on two floors. Two rows of windows bring in plenty of light, which reveals quite plain stonework.

The “towing” stained-glass windows

This stained-glass window is the most reputed in the church. It was achieved in 1605 by a glassworker from Rouen. The humblest people in the city put up money for it and it shows how important the towing of boats on the Seine was, (people had to tow them under an arch of the bridge). Thus, in the foreground, the window shows the “fort de Limaie”, which stood on the right bank of the Seine (where Igoville is now). In the middleground, there is the bridge which gave the city its name, and in the background, the first walls which were built around Pont-de-l’Arche.

In the foreground, on the right of the fort, you can see the towers (men, women, children) in their best clothes. You can see horses too. On the bridge, there is “the bridgemaster” who, as he watched the boat going under the big arch, directed the towers so that they prevented the boat from crashing into the piers of the bridge. That hazardous daily mission gave the local people work and it was opportunity for the authorities to collect taxes. Towing under the bridge ceased when a lock was made (it was opened in 1811). It came to an end all along the banks of the Seine when boats were motorised.

The furniture

The church shelters an organ built in 1608 by Jean Oury in Crépin Carlier’s workshop (he being an organ-builder in Rouen).

The retables come from Notre-Dame de Bonport. The sculptures represent lions which probably refer to Richard the Lionheart, who founded the abbey in 1190.

St. Vigor and Notre-Dame-des-arts ?

The church in Pont-de-l’Arche had been dedicated to St. Vigor, the bishop of Bayeux, since at least of the 11^th century. The present church maintained his memory, for he was considered as a champion of Christianisation in Bayeux area up to 1893.

That year, Philippe Octave, the parish priest, decided to celebrate Virgin Mary, patron of the arts. The work and contemplation demanded by the art are viewed as a way to make the humanity in men develop. With the support of the duchess of Uzès and a number of religious, conservative authorities, that worship of the Virgin brought an intense religious activity in Pont-de-l’Arche, up to the Second World War. Afterwards it gradually faded.

The community Pont-de-l’Arche is part of indeed deserves its name Seine-Eure. Apart from the “green way” which joins Léry and Louviers, the banks of the Eure in Pont-de-l’Arche and Les Damps are worth seeing. The riverside offers magnificent views on the charming houses at the foot of the hillside, as well as on the islands between the Eure and the Seine.

It’s an easy stroll for the tourist who walks along the old towing-path where our ancestors used to tow the boats going up the river. Today, the swans, the moorhens and the ducks live here. It’s also one of the favourite place for families to have picnics and lie on the grass, or for lovers to stroll, or for people to go fishing or canoeing.

In the past, the Eure flowed into the Seine right opposite Les Damps, but nowadays, thanks to a spillway, for the first time, the Eure unites with the Seine in Pont-de-l’Arche, partly though. In 1930, there were major works which made the Seine a canal linking the Channel to Paris, and they transferred the confluence to Martot, ten kilometres down-stream. On the way down the river, the tourist will see:

-         the historic heart of Les Damps;

-         the islands;

-         the access of Île Saint-Pierre is down a spiral staircase in the middle of the bridge;

-         Arromanches Bridge. Pont Bailey which goes across the Eure onto Harcourt Island. It’s the remaining part of a bridge which was built by the allied forces at the Liberation in order to go across the Eure and also the Seine (that part of it is gone).

The people who are fond of sport can walk on towards the old abbey (Bonport). They are a few fences on the way to stop the sheep browsing there from going astray. After walking underneath the wall surrounding Bonport, the stroller will reach the green banks in Criquebeuf and Martot. Don’t forget to take a stick (for the nettles in summer) and Wellingtons in autumn!

 Where you walk your own way.

It’s up to you to be curious enough to discover the most unusual routes. Find out about civilian architecture in Pont-de-l’Arche as you stroll about its streets. Here, there are quite a few houses dating back to the Renaissance and the Middle Ages, with their porches (which are so cool in summer!), their overhanging storeys, their protruding first floors built on wooden balks.

The half-timbered houses complete with the 19^th century plastered façades, a few of which still boasting the painted adverts of the shops that used to be there.

A few streets are really worth seeing:

-         rue de l’Abbaye-sans-toile, an old working-class area;

-         rue Blin, where the leading citizens used to live (next to the bailliage);

-         rue Sainte-Marie, which goes along the wall on the inside.