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Origin and history

The church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Domont, located in Val-d的Oise, has its origin in the foundation of the Clunisian Priory of Domont in 1108 by Radulphe le Bel and his wife Lisvia, who gave the local church to the priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs in Paris. This gesture was part of the Gregorian reform and also marked the choice of the Le Bel family to establish its burial. Although the parish was officially created only in 1142, the construction of the present church, of primitive Gothic style with Romanesque influences, began in the mid-12th century, probably between 1150 and 1160. His ambitious plan, including a walk without radiant chapels and bow-buttons inspired by the Cathedral of Sens, reflected the symbolic importance of the Clunisian priory in the region.

The church was designed with a nave of six spans, a salient transept and a choir to walk through, arched in a late Romanesque style, while the apse and the transept adopted Gothic dogive vaults. The discrete bow-buttons of the abside, among the first in the region, testify to an architectural innovation that is still timid. The bell tower, probably originally located on the north crusillon, disappeared partly after collapses in the 18th century, during which time the building, divided between parishioners and monks, deteriorated rapidly. The French Revolution led to the dissolution of the priory in 1790 and the closing of the church to worship in 1785, narrowly avoiding its demolition thanks to financial constraints.

The reconstruction began in the nineteenth century in two phases: first temporary repairs (1806-1827), including a wooden nave, then a major restoration between 1844 and 1857 under the direction of architect Volkers, who reconstructed the nave in a neo-Gothic style inspired by the preserved medieval parts. The choir and cross-section of the transept, classified as historical monuments in 1913, were preserved, while the current stained glass and furniture dates mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries. A complete restoration between 2002 and 2004 restored to the building its original brilliance, highlighting its unique blend of primitive Romanesque and Gothic styles, as well as its 12th century bow-buttons, studied for their rarity in the region.

The bedside, particularly remarkable, has a cohabitation of styles with primitive Gothic foothills to the north and flamboyant bows decorated with pinacles to the south, reflecting the reshuffles of the 15th and 16th centuries. Inside, the walk-through, devoid of radiant chapels, and the tripartitely elevated abside illustrate the architectural audacity of the period. Among the notable furniture elements, six classified medieval funeral slabs (XIVth–XVIth centuries) recall the close links between the church, the priory and local lords, such as the Le Bel and Villiers families. Today, the Cavaillé-Coll organ (1961) and the modern stained glass windows complete this heritage, while the Porte Saint-Jacques, Renaissance masterpiece, remains the last visible vestige of the missing priory.

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