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Origin and history

The Collège Notre-Dame de Melun was founded between 1016 and 1031 by King Robert II the Pious, on the site of an earlier church. This project was part of the capture of Melun County by the Capetians, who owned a nearby castle. The nave, the lower side, the transept and the bases of the bell towers, of Romanesque style, were built from this period. The towers, typical of the Capetian religious buildings of the eleventh century, were completed around 1100. Twelve canons were installed there, and the original wooden ceiling was replaced by dogid vaults after a fire in the 12th century.

In the 12th century, the choir was rebuilt in an early Gothic style and consecrated in 1198. The college became a place of royal ceremonies, such as the marriage of Isabelle, daughter of Saint Louis, with Thibaut II of Navarre. The bell towers, dated the eleventh century, were restored between 1515 and 1524 under Francis I, whose salamander adorns the restorations. The central gate, redone in the 16th century, has medallions carved with medieval figures, while the side vantals of the 18th century reproduce these motifs.

In the 18th century, the lateral chapels were destroyed (1773), resulting in the dispersal of Jean Fouquet's famous Diptyque de Melun, now preserved between Antwerp and Berlin. The revolution dispersed the canons, and the church, closed in 1844, was restored from 1851 to 1862 thanks to a public lottery. The bedside towers, disassembled and then climbed, incorporated ancient materials. Damaged during the 1940 bombings, the college saw its stained glass windows redone in 1955 by Calixte Poupart, illustrating the Virgin Mary and local saints.

The organ of the college, originally a salon organ made in 1851 by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll for the singer Pauline Viardot, was installed in 1883. Its neo-Renaissance buffet, decorated with musical motifs and monograms, bears witness to its turbulent history, having travelled between Paris, Baden-Baden and Bougival. Ranked Historic Monument in 1989 (instrumental part) and 2013 (buffet), it still awaits a complete restoration. A broom due to a 1940 dabbus shrapnel remains visible on his console.

The Diptych of Melun, commissioned around 1450 by Étienne Chevalier, treasurer of Charles VII, represented a nursing Virgin (perhaps inspired by Agnes Sorel) and the sponsor with Saint Stephen. Placed above the tomb of Stephen Chevalier, it was sold in 1775 to finance works. Its two separate panels are now preserved at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp and the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. A photographic reproduction is displayed in the college.

Ranked in 1840, the college was restored between 2003 and 2005 by Jacques Moulin. In 2013, Melun celebrated his millennium with cultural events, and La Poste issued a commemorative stamp. The building, marked by varied architectural styles (roman, gothic, modern restorations), remains a major testimony of Capetian and religious heritage in Île-de-France.

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