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Origin and history

The Collège Notre-Dame de l'Assomption de Crécy-la-Chapelle found its origins in a small oratory founded in 1123 in Vignely, dependent on the priory of Saint-Martin-du-Vieux-Crécy, itself attached to Saint-Martin-des-Champs Abbey since 1143. This oratory was erected as a parish and collegiate church in 1202 by Anseau de Garlande, bishop of Meaux, with six canons, then eight after a donation by Dreux de Châtillon in 1220. The construction of the current college began in the middle of the 13th century thanks to these donations.

The Hundred Years' War and the capture of Crécy by the English in 1421 severely damaged the building, requiring the reconstruction of the first four spans of the nave in the 15th century. The church was consecrated on 16 May 1429. The repeated floods of the Morin, aggravated by the diversion of Vaudessart's ru in the 16th century for the nearby castle, caused recurrent flooding. The pavement was enhanced several times (1641, 1676, 1730), and iron draughts added in 1641 to support the vaults.

Ranked a historic monument in 1846, the collegiate church underwent numerous restorations in the 19th and 20th centuries. Between 1826 and 1870, architects such as Pierre-Joseph Garrez, Eugène Millet and Maximilien Mimey intervened to repair the foothills, bows, high windows and the choir. In the 20th century, major works were undertaken to counter water infiltrations: lowering of the ground in 1980, installation of pumps, and then closing from 1994 to 2005 for ground work (drying, drainage, restoration of stones).

The architecture of the college is distinguished by a nave of six spans and a choir finished by a heptagonal apse, flanked by biased apsidioles. The choir, covered with a twelve-branched dogive vault dating from the 13th century, and the apsidioles (seven-branch vaults) illustrate the radiant Gothic art. The lower sides, framing the nave, add to the symmetry of the building, despite subsequent modifications such as the bow-buttons concealed by Eugène Millet.

The life of the college was marked by recurring challenges related to its environment. The Morin floods and surrounding marshes, exacerbated by the narrowing of Vaudessart's ru in the 16th century, regularly threatened its stability. These hydrological problems, combined with limited resources (the suppression of the chapter in 1676 by Bishop Dominique de Ligny attests to this), made its preservation complex up to modern technical solutions.

Despite these hazards, the college remained an active place of worship, even during the Revolution. His successive restorations, from 1826 to 2005, reflect a constant desire to preserve this Gothic heritage, now open to the public and symbol of the religious and architectural history of the Seine-et-Marne.

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