This portion, which jars with the transitional Gothic of the rest of the edifice, was added in the seventeenth century. The plans for the right hand tower were never executed.
THE OLD CASTLE SEEN FROM THE ESPLANADE
In the interior, in the right branch of the transept, is the masterpiece of the great Lorraine sculptor of the sixteenth century, Ligier-Richier, pupil of Michael Angelo. It is the funeral monument of René of Châlon, Prince of Orange, and is commonly known as "the Skeleton."
ST. PETER'S CHURCH
René de Châlon, who was killed in 1544 at the siege of Saint-Dizier, is said to have expressed the wish to be impersonated on his tomb as he would be three years after his death. It was in order to conform to his wish that his widow, Louise of Lorraine, ordered Richier to execute the strikingly realistic monument seen in the photo below. The "Skeleton" was carved in stone, then placed in a bath of oil and wax which gave it the appearance of old ivory.
Opposite the pulpit and suspended from the pillars in the nave, is a carving of Christ between the two thieves. This crucifixion-group dates from the sixteenth century and is in walnut wood, but has been repainted in modern times.
It has sometimes been attributed to Ligier-Richier. In a chapel to the left of the choir there is kept a sixteenth century bas-relief representing St.-François d'Assises, patron saint of François Brûlé, rector of Saint-Pierre, between Saint Peter and Saint Max, Abbot of Chinon.
In the right aisle there is a beautiful Renaissance chapel and the baptistry.