St. Martin's Church, Triel-sur-Seine

The Saint-Martin Church is a Catholic parish church located in Triel-sur-Seine, France. It is a large building resulting from four different eras. Due to successive expansions between the late fifteenth century and the mid-sixteenth century, the plan has become very complex, and the Gothic nave of the second quarter of the twelfth century is only a tiny part of the total area. Originally, is a church of a regular cruciform plan. The vaults of its central nave probably collapsed after two generations, which motivated the reconstruction of the upper parts in the early fourteenth century. They are characterized by a triforium of radiating Gothic style particularly elegant. However, the church still has the defect of a central nave and a transept that are too narrow, and the inhabitants remedy this at the end of the 15th century by equipping the church with a second aisle on its entire southern flank, and a large chapel with two vessels to the north of the transept and the choir. These parts are of flamboyant gothic style, and more neat and homogeneous on the outside than on the inside, where the connection with the old parts is difficult. During the reign of Henry II, the Gothic church no longer met the requirements, and it was decided to rebuild it in the Renaissance style. The work began with the construction of a new choir to the east of the old one, wider and with an ambulatory, although not as high. But the work did not go any further, and the Gothic church was preserved. The Renaissance choir is remarkable for its well studied architecture without any excess of ornamentation, which is clearly ahead of its time. Particularities are the passage of a street under the first bay, and the presence of a hemicycle crypt under the ambulatory. As a building of great artistic value, which can also boast a good dozen Renaissance stained glass windows, the church of Saint-Martin was classified as a historical monument quite early on in the 1862 list. However, at the end of the 19th century, the nave threatened to collapse, and its demolition seemed inevitable. It was finally saved by a major restoration campaign completed in 1911, and the church was restored for a second time in the 1970s. St. Martin's remains the center of an important parish, and hosts Eucharistic celebrations almost daily, except on Mondays.