Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The chapel of Saint John of Argenteuil, located in the Val-d Excavations in 1942 revealed masonry graves of the 8th and 6th centuries, suggesting religious occupation from the early Middle Ages. Its exact use remains uncertain, but the hypothesis of a sepulchral chapel is preferred. The two-storey rectangular building features atypical vaults and pillars, mixing Romanesque and classical influences.

In the 16th century, the chapel was ceded to a winemaker who transformed it into a cellar, saving it the destruction during the Revolution. Ranked a historic monument in 1945, it was bought by the city of Argenteuil in the 1970s and restored from 1984. The 1948 excavations and recent work (2012) allowed to recompose its surroundings and to preserve its absidiole in cul-de-four, reconstituted during the restorations. A funeral plaque honours a deacon choirmaster.

The building, a communal property, is distinguished by its small windows in the middle of the hanger and its external staircase leading to the high chapel, to the wooden ceiling. Its history reflects the successive transformations of a medieval place of worship into a secular space, before its heritage rehabilitation. The archaeological and architectural remains make this a key testimony of Argenteuil's religious and funeral history.

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