Church of Our Lady, Montataire

The former collegiate church of Notre-Dame is a Catholic church located in Montataire, in the heart of the agglomeration of Creil, in the department of Oise, France. It was built at the end of the 12th century as a collegiate church of the lord of Montataire, and was originally a dependency of the castle. The nave and the side aisles remain from this period. Between 1225 and 1230, new gothic portals were placed in front of the façade and the third bay of the south side, and the two side aisles were vaulted with ogives. The vaulting of the nave was started, but was finally postponed and never completed. Between 1250 and 1260, the primitive choir was replaced by a vast radiating gothic choir, which can be considered as one of the main achievements of this period in the area, with Agnetz and Chambly. If the plan presents many irregularities and lacks symmetry, the building seduces by its elegance, its lightness, its luminosity, the quality of the sculpture of its capitals and its careful decoration. The collegiate church has survived the centuries without being destroyed in the various wars. This is apparently not the case for the former parish church of Saint-Léonard, which was abandoned in favor of the collegiate church at an undetermined time. The French Revolution did not threaten the building's survival, but the chapter of canons was abolished like all the other collegiate churches. Because of the exceptional quality of the architecture of the eastern parts, the church of Notre-Dame was classified early on as a historical monument by the list of 1862, twenty-two years after the first classifications in the department. It benefits from several restoration campaigns. Because of its off-center location, it was nevertheless abandoned by its parish, Notre-Dame-des-deux-Rivières du Creillois-Sud, which preferred the church of Christ the Resurrected, inaugurated in 1962 in the center of town. The former collegiate church is now used for worship only on rare occasions.