Autheuil (canton of Tourouvre, Orne) Church of Notre-Dame

    A former dependency of the abbey of Saint-Evroult, this church is one of the rare Romanesque monuments of the Perche region to be in good state of preserve. 
Apart from a few minor re-workings and its facade having been completely re-constructed during the 19th century (only the upper arcature in the portal is authentic), the edifice dates from c. 1100.
On the outside, the walls, reinforced by flat buttresses, are constructed in white stones and flint. A cornice with figured cornice brackets runs along the upper part of the apse of the choir.
Other remarkable sculpted elements are formed by the sculpted capitals, which are ornamented with interlacing, characters or animals, which crown the small columns, engaged in the cruciform piers onto which the four large arches flow, slightly overlapping them, supporting the steeple tower, at the level of the transept crossing.

Bibliography

- Aubert M., L'église d'Autheuil, Congrès archéologique de France, CXIe session, 1953, p. 402-406
- Dictionnaire des églises de France, Belgique, Luxembourg, Suisse, IVB, Normandie, Paris, 1968, p. 10 (notice de P. Siguret)
- L'art roman dans l'Orne, Art de Basse-Normandie, n° 66, été 1975, p. 9, 14, 20, 24, 30.
- Baylé M., Autheuil, in : les siècles romans en Basse-Normandie, Art de Basse-Normandie, n° 92, printemps 1985, p. 98
- Baylé M., Autheuil, église Notre-Dame, in : L'architecture normande au Moyen-Age, t. II, Caen-Condé, 1997, p. 93-96