Church of Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau (Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau)

This 11th-12th century granite church stands at the foot of Domfront's medieval hill, beside the Varenne river near an ancient ford. Originally a Benedictine priory built around 1020 by Guillaume de Bellême, it became the only parish church in medieval Domfront and was frequented by the Dukes of Normandy. In 1162, Henry II Plantagenet had his daughter Aliénor baptized here—she later became the grandmother of Saint Louis. The church suffered significant damage in 1836 when four of its six nave bays were demolished to make way for a new road, despite protests from writer Prosper Mérimée. Today, visitors can admire the surviving Romanesque transept with rare Carolingian pillars, the original apse, and 12th-century murals discovered during restoration. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1840, it remains one of the finest examples of Norman Romanesque architecture in the Passais region.