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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Remi de Ponchon, located in the Oise department in the Hauts-de-France region, is a Roman Catholic edifice whose unique nave, covered with a arch-shaped panelling, dates back to the 11th century. It was originally the matrice parish of four neighbouring villages (Montreuil-sur-Thérain, Berthecourt, Villers-Saint-Sépulcre and Tillard), enjoying privileges under the Ancien Régime, such as that of carrying out baptisms and burials alone. Its status as a matrix church explains the magnitude of its sanctuary, replaced by a more spacious Gothic choir from the end of the 12th century, although the arching of warheads was only completed around 1230.

The southern lateral chapel, begun in the last quarter of the 12th century, was partially rebuilt to adapt to the new choir, reducing the number of spans from three to two. The windows were redesigned in the 13th and 14th centuries, and the interior of the church was decorated with architectural polychromy and biblical frescoes, two thirds of which are still preserved. These paintings, rediscovered in the 1970s, illustrate episodes of Genesis and the Passion of Christ with an expressive and stylized style, unique in the department for their surface area.

Classified as a Historical Monument in 1980 for its murals, the church benefited from restoration campaigns from 1982 to 2006, revealing a medieval artistic treasure of great rarity. Today affiliated with the parish of Saint-Yves-d'Auteuil, it receives more than quarterly Masses. Its furniture includes a 19th-century painting (The Desperation of Judas by Paul-Émile Destouches) and stained-glass windows inspired by the works of Raymond Joly-Clare, a local artist who marked the village's recent history.

Architecturally, the building combines sobriety and elegance: the nave, wide and without vaults, contrasts with the Gothic choir with carved capitals and polychrome vaults. The exterior foothills, lancet windows and interior frescoes bear witness to stylistic evolutions between the 11th and 14th centuries. The lateral chapel, unfinished and never vaulted, preserves traces of its Romanesque origins, like a clogged lancet of the twelfth century.

The church Saint-Remi thus embodies almost a thousand years of religious and artistic history, reflecting both the central role of the matricial parishes in the medieval Beauvais and the architectural transformations associated with the transitions between Roman and Gothic. Its classification and restoration allowed to preserve an exceptional heritage, today open to the visit within the framework of the communal heritage of Ponchon.

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