Falaise (Canton of Falaise, Calvados) Church of Notre-Dame-de-Guibray

   The church of the suburb of Guibray, situated outside the walls of Falaise and to the south, occupies the primitive site of a pagan sanctuary, transformed into a chapel, in the Merovingian period, before 650.
In c. 1000, a new church was built, and re-worked between the end of the 11^th century and the end of the 12^th century, on a Romanesque plan with a central nave, two side aisles and a short transept, at the instigation of the abbey of the Trinité in Caen. The church is a dependency of the abbey of Caen like all the churches of Falaise through a donation in 1066 by the lord of Falaise, Mézidon and Ecajeul. The unity of the building was significantly disrupted by numerous re-workings, from the 13^th century, but the façade from the 12^th century has been preserved as well as the chevet from the end of the 11^th century, with its three apses on several floors, very like those in Saint-Nicolas in Caen. The choir, stripped of its neo-classical decoration in 1986 has had its Romanesque arcatures restored to it. Some interesting Romanesque capitals top the pillars of the transept, choir and its side aisles.

Bibliography

- Baylé, Maylis. – Les origines et les premiers développements de la sculpture romane en Normandie, Art de Basse-Normandie, n° 100bis,p. 141 à 143
- German, Paul. - L'église Notre-Dame de Guibray, Condé-sur-Noireau, 1992
- Libourel, Jean-Louis. - Falaise, Caen : Association de développement culturel en Basse-Normandie, 1990
- Musset, Lucien. " Les églises ", dans : Falaise, Art de Basse-Normandie, n° 39, p. 34 à 39
- Musset, Lucien. – Normandie romane, Zodiaque, La Pierre-Qui-Vire, 1987, T. 1, p. 33
- Musset, Lucien. " Notre-Dame de Guibray ", dans : A travers la Basse-Normandie et son patrimoine, Monuments Historiques, n° 159, oct-nov. 1988