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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Saint-Martin church of Cernay-lès-Reims, located in the Marne department in the Grand Est region, is a religious building built mainly in the 12th and 13th centuries. It illustrates an architecture of transition between Romanesque and Gothic styles, with modifications made in the 14th and 15th centuries to enlarge it. Its baptismal fonts, typical of the region, are decorated with faces, snails (symbols of eternity) and palmlets on the capitals.

The church, dedicated to Notre-Dame and listed as a historic monument on October 25, 1911, suffered major destruction during the First World War (1914-1915). Its reconstruction was completed in 1957. Among its remarkable features, a Gothic Marble Madonna with Child, now preserved at the Cloisters Museum in New York, bears witness to its lost artistic heritage.

The monument, owned by the municipality, reflects local history and medieval architectural developments. Its early ranking underscores its heritage importance, despite the vicissitudes of the twentieth century. The sculptural details, such as human heads and plant motifs, recall the artisanal traditions of Champagne of the 12th and 15th centuries.

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