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Origin and history

The Saint-Pierre church of Saint-Julien-du-Sault, located in the Yonne in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, is an ancient collegiate church whose origins date back to the 12th century under the impulse of Archbishop Henri I Sanglier. The works, initiated between 1122 and 1142, continued in the 13th century with plans inspired by the Cathedral of Sens. The building, partially destroyed during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), was restored in the 15th and 16th centuries under the archbishops Tristan de Salazar and Louis de Bourbon-Vendôme, who added the bell tower and the choir.

Ranked as a historic monument in 1840, the church features architecture combining ogival and Renaissance styles, with a nave of 54,60 meters and vaults reaching 21,45 meters. It was the seat of a chapter of ten canons until 1773, and then became entirely parish. During the Revolution, it was transformed into a temple of Reason (1794-1800) and suffered degradations, such as the suppression of the steles of the canons and the gates separating the choir.

The church houses remarkable stained glass windows of the 13th and 16th centuries, four of which are attributed to the Master of Isaiah, collaborator of the Holy Chapel. Among them, scenes from the life of Saint Louis, Saint Blaise, or Saint John the Baptist, as well as borders with lily flowers and Castilla towers, symbols of Blanche de Castille. These stained glass windows, damaged by the weather in 1784, were restored in the 19th century by Abbé Girard and Prosper Mérimée, with the intervention of Viollet-le-Duc.

The large Renaissance organ (1568), classified as a historical monument in 1978, is a jewel of the building. Restored in 2011 by Bertrand Catteaux, it reveals parchments in Gothic characters and a polychromy hidden under layers of painting. The church also preserves five bells, including Jacques (1791), the only surviving of the revolutionary cast iron. The graffiti of the basements, dating from the seventeenth century, bear witness to local life, with signatures and symbolic drawings.

The chapels, initially seven (Saint George, Saint Nicholas, etc.), were reduced to five in the 18th century. The Notre-Dame-de-la-Pitié chapel houses a carved group offered in 1843 by Queen Marie-Amélie, wife of Louis-Philippe, in memory of her son. The frescoes and paintings, such as Notre-Dame du Rosaire (17th century) or Saint Hubert (16th century), enrich the artistic heritage.

Major works marked its history: repair of the frame in 2009 (1.8 million euros), restoration of stained glass in the 19th century, or the addition of a sacristy in 1888. The church, owned by the commune, remains an active place of worship and an exceptional testimony of sacred art in Burgundy.

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