Saint-Sulpice Church, Pierrefonds

The Saint-Sulpice church is a Catholic parish church located in Pierrefonds, France. In Gothic style, it combines a choir with two side aisles from the 13th century with a flamboyant double nave from the late Middle Ages. However, the building is much older than the Gothic parts suggest. The foundation by Lord Nivelon and the beginning of the works date back to the 1060s, and the choir of the first Romanesque church must have been completed in the early 12th century. The only evidence of this are the three arcades connecting the three choir vessels with the two naves, and even more so the crypt below the choir, housing the tomb of Nivelon and the thermal spring that gave Pierrefonds its name. While the western facade, the northern portal and the window infill were very well done, the interior shows a hasty construction without vaulting and without any ornamentation. The aisles do not fit well with the choir, which was originally designed as a single nave with aisles. At the same time, the church is spacious and well-lit, and the choir's inverted hulls are a beautiful effect. Badly damaged in the First World War, the present choir is largely the product of an identical reconstruction begun in 1926. Otherwise, the most recent element is the belfry floor and the crowning of the bell tower, completed in 1557 in a very sophisticated Renaissance architecture. The church was classified as a historical monument by list of 1862, then declassified and classified again by order of August 7, 1885 and by order of February 5, 1920. Of the adjacent priory that depended on the abbey of Marmoutier, only a fortified door and rare remains remain. The church of Saint-Sulpice is today affiliated with the parish of Notre-Dame-de-Neuffontaine in the Aisne valley.