Notre Dame d'Auvers, which dates back to mainly the 12th and 13th centuries, has a rich history in its own right, but was made famous by Vincent's painting The Church at Auvers.
The church seems huge in comparison to the size of the town. You can see the bell tower immediately as you leave the train station. The church can be traced back as far as 1131, and there were substantial changes in the 17th century. Despite several transformations and periods of upheaval, it still features predominantly Roman Gothic-architecture. It's quite beautiful inside, with impressive stained glass, particularly the design opposite the altar.
As we walked in, we met a man who was working inside and introduced himself as Bernard, whom we presumed to be the parish priest. Since it was a Saturday and he was wearing working clothes of a sweater and slacks, we couldn't tell for certain. He spoke a little English, just enough for us to tell him where we were from and have a nice conversation for a couple of minutes. We finished our tour of the inside and just as we were about to leave, Bernard started playing a Beethoven piece on the piano, which seemed to fit the mood of the day perfectly. We stayed and listed to him play, leaving with huge smiles on our faces after he finished.
The church was classified as a historic monument in 1915. It is open daily from 9am-6pm. Telephone (33) 01.30.36.71.79