The Association of Friends of the Church of Tous-les-Saints in Le Bois-Plage-en-Ré is offering a free guided tour of the village church.
A brief history :
Le Bois-Plage is a very old village: a burial mound (La Pierre qui Vire) over 2,000 years old bears witness to this.
By the end of the Middle Ages (1424), the village of Le Bois had more than a thousand inhabitants.
At that time, the village had a chapel on the site of the present-day church.
By the end of the 18th century, the chapel was in a very poor state of repair. The town council and the bishopric of La Rochelle decided to demolish the old building and build a new church in the neo-classical style in vogue at the time.
The church was opened to the public in 1832. It underwent a number of alterations up until the end of the 19th century, but its original architecture has survived.
The last major change was the replacement of the stained glass windows with original creations by the artist VanGuy in the 1960s.
Highlights:
The church chancel is a typical example of the late XIXᵉ century.
Decorated without overload, its stained glass windows dating from the last decade of the XIXᵉ century contain many symbols. The statue of St Joseph has its own history, having disappeared for almost 80 years, only to be rededicated in May 2021.
Three generations of stained glass, three technologies
The stained glass windows date from the end of the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th century and the 1960s, and offer a wealth of symbolism while integrating harmoniously with each generation/technology of previous stained glass windows.
Free guided tours in French and English
From 7 April 2025 to 29 September 2025, free guided tours will take place every Monday from 10.30am to 12.30pm.
Between 3 and 7 volunteer guides will be on hand to greet everyone as they arrive. Tours last from 15 minutes to... longer, depending on the exchanges between the guide and his audience. No booking is necessary. At least one guide can give the tour in English for English-speaking visitors. Over the course of a season, around 1,000 people (including 100 English speakers) come to enjoy our beautiful church.
Le Bois-Plage is a very old village: a burial mound (La Pierre qui Vire) over 2,000 years old bears witness to this.
By the end of the Middle Ages (1424), the village of Le Bois had more than a thousand inhabitants.
At that time, the village had a chapel on the site of the present-day church.
By the end of the 18th century, the chapel was in a very poor state of repair. The town council and the bishopric of La Rochelle decided to demolish the old building and build a new church in the neo-classical style in vogue at the time.
The church was opened to the public in 1832. It underwent a number of alterations up until the end of the 19th century, but its original architecture has survived.
The last major change was the replacement of the stained glass windows with original creations by the artist VanGuy in the 1960s.
Highlights:
The church chancel is a typical example of the late XIXᵉ century.
Decorated without overload, its stained glass windows dating from the last decade of the XIXᵉ century contain many symbols. The statue of St Joseph has its own history, having disappeared for almost 80 years, only to be rededicated in May 2021.
Three generations of stained glass, three technologies
The stained glass windows date from the end of the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th century and the 1960s, and offer a wealth of symbolism while integrating harmoniously with each generation/technology of previous stained glass windows.
Free guided tours in French and English
From 7 April 2025 to 29 September 2025, free guided tours will take place every Monday from 10.30am to 12.30pm.
Between 3 and 7 volunteer guides will be on hand to greet everyone as they arrive. Tours last from 15 minutes to... longer, depending on the exchanges between the guide and his audience. No booking is necessary. At least one guide can give the tour in English for English-speaking visitors. Over the course of a season, around 1,000 people (including 100 English speakers) come to enjoy our beautiful church.
