# tiers-vill@ge.net

"Asnières on the banks of the Vègre - an astonishingly rich architectural heritage, a testimony to the remarkable history of its' inhabitants One of the first forty parishes of Maine founded by Saint Thuribes in the fifth century, the Bishops of Le Mans were Lords of Asnières from the seventh century. From the eleventh century onwards the village developped : the church nave was finished in the lest quarter of the eleventh century and the frescoes painted. The twelfth century saw the construction of the tower and the main door. The Gothic chancel was completed around 1300.
The wall paintings in the church, crated between the twelfth and fiftennth centuries, provide the main reason for the reputation of the village and served to illustrate certain mysterious truths. On the north wall of the nave are scenes from Christ's chilhood. The west wall shows the madieval fear of Hell, used by the Church to incite its' followers to virtue. On the left, above the door, christ holds at bay a three-headed monster and invites the elect to enter celestial Jerusalem.
The chancel was painted at the beginning of the fourteenth century, at the end of which were added Scenes illustrating the mystery of the Redemption.
In the fourteenth century the "Cour", generally knon as the Temple, depended upon the Cathedral Chapter of Le Mans but the archives do not mention the original builders and inhabitants. The Temple seems to have been built in stages during the thirteenth century : two entities of unequal length are linked, through which passes a covered arch into what was probably an inner courtyard. Several architectural details strenthen the lordly character of the Temple : for example, the vast room on the first floor at the eastern end with its' magnificent timberwork.
Until the nineteenth centery village life was organised around the church and the Old Bridge. The oldest houses, dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, are found near the bridge and the main street leading from it.
The village developped further from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries thanks to marble and anthracite mining. Saint Aldric's fountain was transformed into the village washing place.
Though so richly steeped in history, Asnières is a living community with an active agriculture, small industry and thriving associations. One of these, "Patrimoine d' Asnières", working closely with the council, is dedicated to the protection and restoration of its' architectural heritage : further discoveries remain to be made as the Vègre flowx tranquilly past the sites of centuries of human activity and passion."

tiré du facicule "Asnières-sur-Vègre, village en Sarthe" en vente auprès de l'association Patrimoine qui met à disposition des visiteurs étrangers une version anglaise du parcours de découverte du patrimoine.

mots-clé associés : visite associations accueil visiteurs étrangers