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Origin and history

The Church of Notre-Dame-des-Champs de Maffliers, officially dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption, replaces a medieval chapel dedicated to Saint-Blaise. His Renaissance choir, built between 1554 and 1556 under the impulse of the seigneur Claude de La Fayette and the parish priest Philippe Bernard, is a remarkable work of the French Renaissance. The bell tower, erected in 1574, completes this architectural ensemble. The present nave, rebuilt in 1859 in just nine months thanks to the financing of the Duke of Périgord, sizing on the height and width of the choir, offering a rare visual harmony for a parish church.

The early chapel, Notre-Dame-des-Champs, located on Rue de Beaumont, was demolished in 1793 during the Revolution. Only a wooden statue from the Virgin to the Child of the 14th century, now exposed in the church, remains. The furniture includes classified items, such as the funeral monument of Jean Forget (1611) and an antependium of the seventeenth century. The building, which was listed as a historical monument in 1931, underwent major restorations between 1980 and 1983, although problems of stability persist in the choir.

Interior architecture mixes flamboyant Gothic and Renaissance influences, with dogive vaults, Doric and Corinthian capitals, and 20th century stained glass windows. The side chapels, dedicated to Saint Cecile and the Virgin, house altarpieces and religious works of art. The exterior, sober, highlights the Renaissance bedside, decorated with carved foothills and a cornice with denticles. The church, although partially disused, remains a valuable testimony of sacred art in Île-de-France.

Under the Ancien Régime, Maffliers depended on the diocese of Beauvais and the dean of Beaumont. The Revolution abolished the parish in 1790, and worship was not restored until 1802. In the 19th century, Father Collin, a scholar priest, initiated the reconstruction of the nave and documented local history. Today, the church is part of a parish grouping with Baillet-en-France, Montsoult and Nerville-la-Forêt, and welcomes more than occasional Masses.

The stained glass windows, made by the workshops Lorin and Chanussot in the early twentieth century, illustrate biblical scenes such as the Assumption or the Nativity. A modern rosette (1999) adorns the western facade, while the chapels retain classified furniture elements, including a 14th century statue of the Virgin, which survives revolutionary destruction. Despite work of consolidation, the choir remains weakened, requiring some wasts to preserve its structure.

The church, located on Rue de la Mairie in Maffliers, dominates the village from a promontory at 150 meters altitude. Its location, near the forest of L-Isle-Adam, and its hybrid architecture make it an emblematic monument of Val-d-Oise, reflecting five centuries of religious and artistic history.

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