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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Étienne d'Issy-les-Moulineaux, parish for centuries, draws its origins from 7th century remains discovered under the presbytery. A 1084 text already attests to a Romanesque church, of which remains a sculpted tympanum visible in the north side. In 1336, a new church replaced her, but only her bell "Mary" (1618), one of the oldest in the Hauts-de-Seine, today testified. The present building, consecrated in 1645, succeeds these medieval buildings.

During the Paris Commune (1871), the church suffered heavy damage: organ, stained glass, roof and walls were destroyed by the bombing. The reconstruction work, completed in 1880, allowed its reopening to worship in 1872, in the presence of Marshal Patrice of Mac Mahon, the future president of the Republic. Its architecture, blending size stones and foothills, preserves Romanesque features (arcades in the middle of the skin), reflecting the rural village that Issy was at the time.

Ranked a Historic Monument in 1929, the church houses remarkable furniture: a altarpiece of the choir (XVIII–XIXth centuries) surrounded by statues of Saints Stephen and Vincent, Renaissance benitiers, and a baptismal tank Louis XIV from the castle of Conti. A complete restoration in 2006–2007 modernises the interior, with contemporary liturgical furniture signed Jean-François Ferraton (2014). A 163-metre underground and the tradition of a portal offered by Louis XIV and Anne of Austria add to its mystery.

Today, St. Stephen's church forms with the parishes Saint-Bruno and Saint Lucia the BEL pole of Issy-les-Moulineaux, under the responsibility of Father Jacques Mevel. Its history, from Merovingian crypts to post-Communarian reconstructions, illustrates the permanence of worship in this Franciscan commune, between medieval heritage and modern adaptations.

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