The choir and chapels of Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativité church were built in the late 12th or early 13th century. The nave and side aisles date from the end of the 15th century or the beginning of the following century. Some of the walls (the north aisle, for example) appear to have been built using reused stone (probably from the destroyed sections). Looking at the chevet and north aisle from the outside, it can be seen that the walls have been raised, which has reduced the pitch of the roof (the height of the ridge having changed little); the small rubble stones used for this contrast with those of the original wall and form a clean line. Above the north door and in the corner of the sacristy, the dates 1684 and 1687 can be read: it is highly likely that they relate to the raising of the roof. The ashlar sacristy, on which the raised roof is clearly visible, therefore predates the latter.
The bays have been altered to some extent. When altarpieces were installed against the chevet wall and in the chapels at the beginning of the 18th century, the corresponding windows were blocked up: their design is still clearly visible from the outside (except to the north, because of the sacristy). To bring light into the sanctuary, a high round-headed bay was cut into the south wall at the same time. The windows in the side aisles were enlarged (probably in the 18th century) to bring more light into the building, as the nave had no windows.
The rebuilt bell tower above the first bay of the nave features 13th-century elements such as modillions and bays (capitals with cabbages or similar); perhaps it is an exact copy of the original bell tower. At an unknown date, the lower part of the bell chamber openings was filled in with ashlar. The west bay lost its tympanum and central column, a fate that may also have befallen the south bay, restored in 1662. According to the archives, the tower was rebuilt in 1828 because the old one was dilapidated and cracked (it had been burnt down and the roofing had to be redone).
The buttresses of the side aisles were rebuilt in the 19th century, taking into account their original shape and the elevation of the roof. The doorframes of the north and south doors and the half-moons above them date from the same period. The church was listed in 1925, then classified as a Historic Monument in 1943.
This elongated church consists of a nave with four bays, flanked by side aisles that end in chapels. The choir has two bays and ends in a flat chevet. It is covered with ribbed vaults, separated from the columns by foliage capitals. The carcass is a mixture of ashlar (lower walls, bell tower) and rubble stone elsewhere. The bays (now walled off) in the chevet formed a triplet surmounted by a rose. The nave and side aisles are covered with ribbed vaults that fall into the piers without intermediate capitals. There are no high windows in the nave. The building has a single roof. The bell tower, above the west portal, has a level corresponding to the bell chamber and a pavilion roof covered with flat tiles.
Eglise Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativité de Voisey
