Notre-Dame de Vétheuil, Vétheuil

Notre-Dame church is a Catholic parish church located in Vetheuil, in the Val-d'Oise. By its size, its plan with two side aisles and its particularly rich and varied furniture, it stands out from the village churches of the French Vexin, because Vétheuil was a village of some importance in the Middle Ages. By its architecture, and in particular its apse of primitive Gothic style and its two portals of the Renaissance, the church Notre-Dame occupies a particular place among the religious architecture of the religion. Its heritage value was recognized early on, and it was classified as a historical monument by list of 1840. The origins of the parish and the church are not known, but a first mention of the end of the 11th century is known, and vestiges of a Romanesque bell tower of the first half of the 12th century still remain inside the present bell tower. Towards the end of the 12th century, the construction of a new choir is launched, and it is completed at the very beginning of the 13th century. The bell tower was rebuilt in the Gothic style during the same century. It is impossible to say anything about the nave from this period. The western parts that we see today date exclusively from the first half of the 16th century, and are in the flamboyant Gothic style. The narrowness of the nave is due to the distance between the bell tower's piers, and can also be explained by the reuse of the foundations of the old nave. The narrowness is compensated by the addition of wide and high side aisles, and a series of chapels forming a second side aisle on each side. In 1551, the local lord called upon the master builder of Italian origin Jean Grappin, who built a sumptuous southern portal protected by a porch, then a western façade flanked by two turrets. These works evoke the Italian Renaissance and are of exceptional quality. Unlike other religious monuments in the region, the church of Notre-Dame has always benefited from the restoration and maintenance work necessary for its good preservation, and it is in good condition. Vétheuil is no longer an independent parish and no longer has a resident priest, but Sunday masses are still celebrated in Notre-Dame church about every other Sunday.