Église Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul, Gonesse

Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul Church is a Catholic parish church located in Gonesse, France. It is the largest church in the country of France. It was built between 1180 and 1305 approximately in three main campaigns of work, reusing the base and the second floor of a Romanesque bell tower of the second quarter of the twelfth century. The plan includes an eight-bay nave with two aisles; a choir composed of a straight bay and a semi-circular apse; and an ambulatory without radiating chapels, which is quite rare. The gothic architecture is very neat, and the capitals are of great quality. The central nave has a triforium or open galleries over the roofs along its entire length. The nave, which dates essentially from the period between 1245 and 1305, is the work of the architect who began the construction of the north aisle at the beginning of the 13th century, and its design is typical of the early Gothic period. The triforium is nevertheless in the radiant Gothic style, and seems to be modelled on the basilica of Saint-Denis. The upper level of the windows and the vaults were never executed. The eastern parts, first built between about 1180 and 1200, are stylistically coherent and particularly harmonious due to this short construction period. The graceful monolithic columns add a note of refinement, and the vaults with all their components are very elegant, but the absence of decoration around the windows also shows a concern for sobriety. The traffic circle of the apse seems like a reproduction on a reduced scale of its counterpart in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. The Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church was classified as a historical monument quite early on by the 1862 list, and benefited from several construction campaigns at the end of the 19th century and in the second quarter of the 20th century in particular. More recently, between the summer of 2012 and the end of 2015, the entire church was excavated, and underfloor heating and new electrical installations were installed. The Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church is the place of worship of one of the two parishes of Gonesse, and masses are celebrated there daily.