Église Saint-Martin, Gothic church in Triel-sur-Seine, France
Église Saint-Martin is a Gothic church in Triel-sur-Seine featuring a choir section positioned above Galande Street, supported by stone vaults below. These vaults create a covered passageway that allows pedestrians to walk beneath the church structure.
The oldest parts, the nave, transept and first choir bays, date from the early 13th century, built in the Gothic style after Notre-Dame de Paris. The vaults collapsed about fifty years after completion and were rebuilt in the Rayonnant Gothic style in the 14th century. In the late 15th century a second south aisle and the Chapel of the Confrérie de la Charité were added; around 1550 a wider Renaissance choir with an ambulatory was begun but never finished. The church was listed as a monument historique in 1862 and restored in 1911 and the 1970s.
The parish belonged to the archdiocese of Rouen under the Ancien Régime, with the abbot of Fécamp holding the cure; since the Revolution it has depended on the diocese of Versailles. Mass is still celebrated on Saturday at 18:30 and Sunday at 10:30, and lauds are prayed each morning except Monday. The north-east chapel was built for the Confrérie de la Charité.
The church sits on a slope: the narrow rue Galande climbs the hillside and passes beneath the first bay of the Renaissance choir through a vaulted passage. The chevet is enclosed by private property and cannot be reached, but the other sides are clear and can be walked around. A large square, the cité Saint-Martin, lies south of the building and serves as a car park.
The crypt lies in a hemicycle beneath the Renaissance ambulatory, and the old chemin du Roi, the King's Road, still runs under the first bay of the choir; from this passage a stair gives access to the crypt. The chevet itself is enclosed by private property and cannot be reached from outside.
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