Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Sainte-Geneviève d'Héricy church, located in Seine-et-Marne, was built in stages from the end of the 12th century on a cemetery dating back to the 3rd century. The choir, the oldest part, dates from this period, followed by the spans of the nave and the bell tower at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The chapel of the Sacred Heart, reserved for the lords of the Brush, and the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, for the lords of Heritage, were built in the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the church was enlarged thanks to the support of Admiral Louis Malet de Graville, with the addition of spans, the north side and a Renaissance portal. The sculpted decoration of the large western gate, destroyed during the Wars of Religion, bears witness to this period. The massive bell tower, with geminied bays and foothills, dominates the building, while inside, 16th-century stained glass windows, such as that of the Nativity classified in 1896, adorn the lower side.

Ranked a historic monument in 1908, the church houses remarkable furniture: a 13th century funeral slab, a 16th century marble plaque commemorating Nicolas Dieusit, and 15th century baptismal fonts. Its four bells, including the oldest date of the late seventeenth century, survived revolutionary upheavals. The building thus illustrates nearly nine centuries of local religious and architectural history.

The Abbey of Barbeau, founded in 1156 by Louis VII and where the king was buried, played a key role in the development of the town of Héricy. The church, originally joined to a funeral chapel that became sacristy, became the spiritual heart of the community. The excavations of the 20th century revealed the long history of the site, linked to a Merovingian cemetery, highlighting its historical importance from late antiquity.

External links