The best traffic-free bike rides around Luisant

Little is known about the church of Luisant, as the municipal archives were destroyed during the Second World War. A religious building existed in the 14th century, with the names of several priests from this parish mentioned in various works. It was destroyed, like many others, in March 1568 when mercenaries from the Huguenot army had to lift the siege of the city of Chartres, due to a truce, just as they were about to enter it through a breach made near the Porte Drouaise, and again in 1589 during the second siege of Chartres (by Henri IV). The current building therefore mainly dates from the 16th century. Without a transept, it consists of a single nave extended by a slightly narrower choir. The bell tower being built over the choir, one can assume that the previous church consisted of this choir alone and that the current nave was a later addition. All the windows are ogival and of similar dimensions. They are fitted with stained glass all from the Lorin workshops in Chartres. The three stained glass windows in the choir were donated by Colonel Chavaudret, after whom a street in Luisant is named, and date from 1877-1881. They depict the Virgin (in a clumsy attempt to imitate Notre-Dame de la Belle-Verrière from the cathedral), Saint Agatha (the first name of the colonel's wife) and Saint Peter. Those in the nave date from 1929 to 1933; several of them were designed by Gabriel Loire, a master glassmaker from Chartres who, before the Second World War, worked for the Lorin workshops. The entire vault, restored in 1997, is covered with wooden shingles. In the choir, some decorations that have survived from the old vault can be seen. A drawing dating from 1749, depicting Saint Laumer, the church's patron saint, has been placed at the entrance of the nave on the left side of the vault. The bell, named "Louise Gabrielle", dates from 1601.

Of Romanesque origin, the church, surrounded by a cemetery, has a curious bell tower supported by machicolations and uprights of sandstone, making it one of the most unique in the region. Perhaps it was originally a bell gable, later augmented by a platform supported by these machicolations? In front of the entrance, a small building called a "caquetoire" (a small meeting place) allows the faithful to gather and converse. Inside the church, the furnishings date from the 18th and 19th centuries: a marble high altar and its gray-painted wooden altarpiece (18th century) – a painted wooden altarpiece of St. Joseph (late 18th or early 19th century) an altarpiece for the altar of the Virgin Mary (19th century) a baptismal font in red-veined marble (19th century) a waxed wooden pew (18th century) a waxed wooden choir stall upholstered in velvet paintings: the Assumption of the Virgin Mary by Octave Hauser (1839) and the Annunciation (18th century) The stained-glass windows date from 1874. The church and the eclipse A bit of history: The parish, established in the 13th century, was part of the deanery of Courville. The church's patron saint, Luperche or Luperchius, gave his name to the village. We must go back to the 4th century to find the first trace of this saint: At that time, Dacius, governor of the part of Spain that included Catalonia, Aragon, and the Kingdom of Valencia, was one of the most cruel ministers of persecution. Incited by the emperors Diocletian and Maximilian, he had eighteen confessors of Jesus Christ executed in the city of Zaragoza. In their honor, the poet Prudentius wrote hymns, and among these confessors, a certain martyr named Luperche became the patron saint of our church.

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Formerly La Loupe, Vaupillon and Saint Eliph formed only one parish called the Trinity of the Woods. The church contains a set of 3 painted stone altarpieces from the 17th century. One is dated 1646 and signed Delahays: it includes 3 sculptures: a trunk of grace, representation of the trinity in which God the father holds before him his son on the cross, the dove of the Holy Spirit hovering above his head You can also see a statue of the local saint in painted and gilded stucco and a Saint Sebastian in painted stucco, characteristic of the counter-reformation. A small chapel to the north was added in the 19th century which contains a pieta.

The church of Barjouville, without a transept, only includes a nave extended by a narrower choir. The north wall of the nave, with three small round-arched windows, dates from the 13th century. But this oldest sanctuary was burned, along with many others in the region, by the mercenaries of the Huguenot army on March 15, 1568 when they had to lift the siege of the city of Chartres, due to a truce, while they were about to enter through a breach made near the Drouaise gate. The reconstruction lasted almost thirty years (the village was poor) and ended with the installation of the bell, melted in August 1598; it is one of the oldest in the department. To the south, the nave is lit by three bays of different sizes and the choir by two others. The bedside, flat, has three semi-circular bays equipped with stained glass windows installed by the Lorin workshops in 1873 and representing the Sacred Heart, Saint James the Major and Saint Laumer. In one of the bays of the choir, fragments of stained glass have been grouped into two square panels, one representing Saint Nicholas and the three children saved from the salt room and the other, undoubtedly, Saint Christopher carrying the child Jesus on his shoulders to cross the river. Note two statues of Saint James which could be from the 16th century and a Saint Leonard, unfortunately covered with a brown wash. Three processional sticks carry naive-style statues of the Virgin, Saint James and Saint Christopher. Finally, a large painting, which hung at the back of the church, is currently being restored. It is a copy, probably from the 17th century, of a “Madonna and Child with Saint Anne” from 1610 by Carlo Saraceni, the original of which is in the National Museum of Rome (Palace Barberini). Work should soon take place to secure the roof and the bell tower and remove the false ceiling which distorts the interior proportions of the church.

Very beautiful church and the public toilets next to it are perfect, even for filling water bottles too large for the classic sinks.

This country church stands out for its pretty little water pump on the side, as well as its cemetery where we find the grave of a Canadian aviator who died during the Second World War.

The village has a Gothic style church. The latter is approximately 32 m long and 8.5 m wide. The church was renovated a few years ago and the eastern facade has recently been lit at night. According to the departmental archives of Eure-et-Loir, the general council granted a credit of 30,000 francs in 1851, in order to have “MM. the department's travel agents the nomenclature of churches, presbyteries and other municipal buildings, briefly containing their description, their condition, the indication and approximate evaluation of the work to be done and their degree of urgency.