Place Notre Dame has evolved considerably over the years. Long ago, the cemetery was located behind the church\u2019s apse on what is now Rue Notre Dame. Later, the area in front of the church featured a large stone cross marking the site where the townsfolk gathered when summoned by the ringing of the bell. It was also the site of the annual Pentecost Tuesday procession of the Brotherhood of the Ox.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As the population grew, the square became too small for the life of the town. Old houses crowding around the church were gradually demolished opening up space. In 1682, the Estates of Burgundy funded improvements to create a proper square. Steps were built leading up to the parish church, and run down dwellings were cleared. To compensate the property owners an additional tax was levied on the town and surrounding communities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Even in the 1840\u2019s, however, the area around the collegiate church remained crowded. In 1843 the famous architect, Violet le Duc, undertook a study for the church\u2019s restoration. He described houses built directly into the church walls with beams and floors passing right through the masonry. On the south side, the damp courtyards pressed against the nave, rotting the walls; the ground there was higher than the church itself. Behind the choir, the garden of the Town Hall wrapped tightly around the apse, keeping the lower walls perpetually damp. Latrines were built between the buttresses, and the north side was filled with haphazard stonework.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Major restoration work began in 1844, saving the church from ruin. Two houses, one a butcher\u2019s shop, still clung to the church walls until they were purchased and demolished by the town council in 1860 and 1865.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on\u2026. N. Bourgeois-Puchot<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cf N. Bourgeois-Puchot : Chronique du Semurois<\/em>, tome II, p.133-138<\/p>\n\n\n\n La place Notre Dame, telle qu\u2019elle est aujourd\u2019hui, a beaucoup \u00e9volu\u00e9 dans le temps. En effet, derri\u00e8re le chevet de l’\u00e9glise, le cimeti\u00e8re occupait l’emplacement de la rue Notre-Dame que l’on ouvrit par la suite, et une partie de l\u2019espace<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-panneaux-information-touristique"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amisdesemur.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amisdesemur.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amisdesemur.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amisdesemur.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amisdesemur.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/amisdesemur.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":383,"href":"https:\/\/amisdesemur.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions\/383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amisdesemur.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amisdesemur.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amisdesemur.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/amisdesemur.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ND.jpg\")
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