Previously the abbey church of l'Abbaye Saint-Père en Vallée, the church of Saint-Pierre (St Peter) was given its present name in 1803.
The huge Benedictine abbey, the most prosperous of the Chartres abbeys in the Middle Ages, was founded in the 7th century, and was destroyed and rebuilt several times.

The impressive dungeon bell-tower that protected the convent, which stood outside the city walls, is all that remains of the 10th century buildings.

Construction of the present building began in the 12th century, and was completed around 1320. This Gothic-style church has no transept and is 80 m long. The vaults of the chancel rise to a height of about 23 m.

The remarkable stained-glass windows were put in place between the 13th and 16th centuries. The most recent ones, in the chancel, were saved from the adjoining parish church of St Hilaire when it was destroyed, as was the cloister, after the French Revolution.




To learn more about the church of Saint-Pierre, click on "Video".