Église Saint-Germain de Vitry-sur-Seine, Romanesque church in Vitry-sur-Seine, France.
Église Saint-Germain de Vitry-sur-Seine is a Gothic parish church whose short four-bay nave, with arcades on cylindrical piers, dates from the early 13th century and carries a 15th-century timber roof with exposed tie beams. The transept and choir are mid-13th century, while the apse, ambulatory and radiating chapels were added at the end of the 13th or start of the 14th century. The south base of the bell tower may go back to the 12th century.
Construction began around 1150 and was completed in the 14th century, the same period as Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris; similarities between the two buildings suggest some architects and workers served on both sites. In June 1432 lightning destroyed the nave's rib vault and the top of the bell tower. The departmental architect Claude Naissant rebuilt the bell tower in 1846-1848 and the sacristy in 1866-1869, and the spire was restored in 1931.
The church holds classified artworks, including a 17th-century reproduction of a painting by Andrea del Sarto showing the Virgin with Saint Anne. These works reflect the artistic importance the building held across centuries.
The church stands at the corner of Avenue Paul-Vaillant-Couturier and Avenue de l'Abbé-Roger-Derry. The clock face and the two arched openings of the tower, crowned by a spire with corner pinnacles, are best seen from the square in front. A plaque on the wall marks the level reached by the Seine flood of 1910.
The church keeps a plaque marking the level reached by the Seine flood of 1910. Another link to the town's memory is Abbé Roger Derry, vicar here from 1930 to 1934, who founded the parish journal "Le Mil" and was beheaded at Cologne in 1943; an avenue bears his name.
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