Montoire

SAINT GILLES

The priory was probably founded in the 11^th century by one of the lords of Montoire. Pierre de Ronsard, the 16^th-century poet, was its prior from 1566 to 1585. The church and other priory buildings were sold as national property during the Revolution and used as warehouses. They were bought by the Gérard family in 1854 and thus saved from destruction but the nave has lost most of its bays except the one next to the choir. The two arms of the transept are barrel-vaulted with a half-domed apse. The crossing is surmounted by a dome on pendentives. What is left of the nave is lighted by round-arched windows alternating with oculi

The Mural Paintings: