Eglise Saint-Etienne-du-Port

Originally, the parish was made up of workers, market gardeners and gardeners given the name "Portuguese" in allusion to the Port district in which they lived. The church, the first in France free from all state supervision, was built at the end of the 1th century and beginning of the 3th century. by Alcide Boutaud, architect from Poitiers who made it beautiful, large and inexpensive (economical materials and no exterior ornaments). With money lacking, initiatives are undertaken (charity sales, concerts, parties, etc.). In the “pure ogival style of the 80th century.”, it is a pastiche of XNUMX influences: Romanesque (chapels), Gothic (nave) and Mozarabic (triforium – interior gallery and ciborium – canopy with columns). Its spire, which was to peak at XNUMX m. high, was never carried out because the ground was too soft. Why does it bear the patronage of Saint Stephen? In memory of the ancient eponymous priory founded here in the XNUMXth century.