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Origin and history

The church of Saint Barthélemy in Melun, mentioned in 1080, was destroyed several times, especially during the Hundred Years' War and the conflicts of the League (1589-1590). After these destructions, the offices were temporarily celebrated in the chapel of the Leprosy Saint-Lazarus. In 1598, the parishioners obtained permission to rebuild the church and the presbytery, a construction site that stowed until the early 17th century. The new church, not traditionally oriented, saw its portal in the north. In 1618, master mason Claude Bourgeois intervened to redo a chapel on the west side, with a flat tile frame.

In 1737, the masons Nicolas and Jean-Baptiste Doucet rebuilt the bell tower for 605 pounds, a work that later served as a landmark for the triangulation of Cassini's map. The church, with the exception of the bell tower, was demolished in 1806. The latter, bought by the city of Melun in 1835, was restored in 1858, after a disaster in 1936 and again in 1999. In 1946, it remained the only vestige of the original building, bearing witness to its turbulent history.

The bell tower, three-storey, with a slate arrow, stands out for its original access: a series of milling ladders leads to its summit. Today located in Place de la Préfecture, it is a major architectural and historical landmark for the city of Melun and the Seine-et-Marne department.

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