Église du Sacré-Cœur

The Church of the Sacred Heart is a neo-Gothic building built in 1880 to replace a former Protestant, now obsolete, which was used previously to Catholic services. The new sanctuary, designed by architect Jean-Michel Alaux, was partly funded by the Gypsy Abbot, owner of the parish priest. The first stone was laid May 15, 1880, in the presence of the Bishop of La Rochelle, Mgr Thomas. The structural work was completed four years later. The end bell tower, topped by an octagonal spire confined pinnacles, was built from 1886.

The church was consecrated June 21, 1894 by Bishop Bonnefoy, Bishop of La Rochelle. A ceremony of the centenary in 1994 was attended by Bishop David, Bishop of La Rochelle and Saintes. In 1999 the steeple was toppled by the storm and Martin put together a few months later.

The church, which forms a Latin cross, consists of a nave divided into six bays covered with quadripartite rib vaults, connected by arches covered with key Latin inscriptions. A series of squat columns, Corinthian capitals, marks the separation between the main vessel and side aisles, vaulted on the same principle. The transept is extended by two apses. The apse, three-sided altar has a Gothic revival finely crafted. Figurative stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Old and New Testament. The walls are adorned with a collection of contemporary paintings, Stations of the Cross or "polyptych of the Cross" by the artist Michel Genty.

The facade consists of a bell tower topped by a thin arrow, according to a method common in the region in the nineteenth century. A statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is on the first floor. She is accompanied by the inscription "Venite ad me omnes" (Come to me all of you), taken from the Gospel of Matthew 11:28: "Come unto me all you who labor and suffer, and I will refresh you" .