Visit of the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine church and its village
For the 40th edition of the European Heritage Days, the church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Forcé opens its doors.
Although the construction of the building cannot be accurately dated, the sources at our disposal place it in the 11th or 12th century. The primitive Romanesque building was to have only one nave, but was enlarged by a transept and a choir in the 17th with circular chevet.
The north and south chapels date from the 18th. The seigneurial bench executed around 1780 for Jean René Pierre Le Clerc de la Jubertière who bought the seigneury of Forcé in 1780. The sacristy was attached to the end of the church around 1895.
The reconstruction of the choir was directed in 1837 by the chaufournier entrepreneur Frédéric Ricosset. The pulpit to be preached dates from 1839. The buttresses of the facade were probably altered in the 15th century and frame a Greek portal in tuffeau dated «Deo Optimum Maximo sumptibus D. Jacquot 1840» (thanks to donations from).
In 1985, the building underwent a rejuvenation, the result of which is now before our eyes.