St. Remi Church

The Saint-Remi church is a Catholic church located in Laigneville, in the Oise department, in France. Its central bell tower, whose second floor is hidden by the roofs, has its bays flanked by columns bearing capitals of a rather archaic Romanesque style, which evokes the early twelfth century. However, the base of the bell tower, vaulted with ogives, has everything of the primitive gothic style, and should not be much earlier than the middle of the XIIth century. It is associated with a pointed barrel vault that covers the next bay of the primitive choir. The two arms of the transept are of unequal length, and were not built during the same campaign. The southern crossing, which is deeper, has the particularity of having a southern wall cut out of the rock, which is unique in the region. It used to be extended by an apsidal chapel apparently covered by a ribbed vault, the beginning of which still seems to exist, but has in fact been entirely rebuilt. The southern crosspiece is much smaller and is accompanied by a tiny rectangular chapel. The nave would have been built after the completion of the eastern parts, during the second half of the 12th century, but was only vaulted afterwards, at the beginning of the 13th century. It is characterized by sexpartite vaults, unusual for naves, and even more rarely used for secondary vaults. Another particularity is the broken barrel vault that supports the tiled roof of the nave. The most recent parts of the church are the western portal of the nave and the square choir-hall of two times two bays. This choir contrasts late radiant Gothic supports and infills with arcades and vaults that announce the flamboyant style, which motivates a dating of the 14th century, unless the construction was not done in two stages. The church of Saint-Remi was classified as a historical monument by decree of June 2, 1911, and its roofs were completely redone in 1923. But the restoration stopped there. Abandoned by the parish since the 1960s in favor of a modern chapel located in the city center, and left without maintenance for fifty years, it was eventually disused for worship. The roofs were repaired in 2014.