Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Saint-Nicolas de Châtillon-sur-Seine, located in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, was built in the last quarter of the 12th century as a church of the hospital Saint-Germain, on the route of pilgrims going to Vézelay then Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle. His choir, rebuilt in the 15th century with two side chapels, became the theatre of major events for the house of Burgundy: deposits of ducal bodies (Philippe le Hardi in 1404) and funeral Masses for Antoine and Philippe de Bourgogne (1415), Michelle de France (1422), and Marguerite de Bavaria (1424). The ground was raised in the 16th-17th centuries to combat flooding, and the building became parish in 1807.

The church, classified as a historical monument in 1942 after a fire caused by the 1940 bombings, was completely restored between 1947 and 1958. Its architecture combines an initial Cistercian style (broken nave) with a Gothic choir of the 16th century, vaulted by dogives. The decoration of the abside, inspired by Raphael (1901), and its 16th century windows – including the Tree of Jesse and the miracle of the hanger-dependent – bear witness to its exceptional artistic heritage. Among his classified furniture are a Saint Anne teacher Mary (XVIe), paintings (XVIe-XVIIe), and a chair (1972).

The history of St. Nicholas also reflects its local anchor: a place of oath of the aldermen under the Old Regime, it welcomed in 1815 Emperor Francis I of Austria for the Paschal Mass. The successive restorations (1896-97 for the roof, 1902-03 for the clock) and the damage of 1940 underline its heritage importance, between Burgundy memory and jacquarian heritage.

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