Saint-Romain Church

The Saint-Romain church is a Catholic parish church located in Wy-dit-Joli-Village, in the Val-d'Oise department, France. According to tradition, it was founded around 625 by Saint Romain, who may have been a native of the area. The oldest parts of the present church are not older than the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th century; they are the west and north walls of the nave, as well as the piers of the old bell tower, which stood above the first bay of the choir. The church was rebuilt from the end of the Romanesque period, around the middle of the 12th century, starting with the choir and ending with the rib vaulting of the nave. After the addition of a chapel on the south side, which was to be in the radiant Gothic style, the church was consecrated by Eudes Rigaud in 1255. Much later, after the end of the Hundred Years War, another chapel was built on the north side. It is of flamboyant gothic style, and constitutes the only stylistically homogeneous part of the building: all the rest has indeed undergone alterations, with, at least, the repercement of the windows. In 1682, the Romanesque bell tower collapsed, and the southern chapel was almost entirely destroyed. From 1695, a new bell tower was built over the southeast corner of the chapel, which was rebuilt without any real style. In this context, or only in the 19th century, the south side of the nave was also rebuilt. With its atypical silhouette and its juxtaposition of different volumes, the church of Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Romain offers a picturesque aspect. In the interior, it is especially the quality of the vaulting of the nave and the choir, with their bundles of columns and their capitals of good level, which hold the attention. Considering its modest size, the church of Wy surprises both by its complexity and the quality of many elements of its architecture. It was classified as a historical monument in 1981. Wy is no longer an independent parish, and is now affiliated with the parish of Avernes and Marines. Sunday masses are celebrated three times a year.