St-Jacques-le-Majeur-St-Christophe

Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur-et-Saint-Christophe church

West facade

The Catholic parish church of Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur-et-Saint-Christophe in Houdan , a parish in the Yvelines department in the French region of Île-de-France , was built from the 15th to 18th centuries in a transition style from Flamboyant Gothic to Renaissance built. In the church there are still remains of wall paintings and fragments of leaded glass windows from the 16th century. In 1840 the church was added to the list of architectural monuments in France as a monument historique .

history

As early as the 11th century, there was a church on the site of the current building, which was dedicated to the Apostle James the Elder . At the end of the 15th or beginning of the 16th century, the church was rebuilt with donations from the citizens who hoped for an indulgence . Since 1510, the church has been consecrated to St. Christopher as the second patron saint . The construction work dragged on until the 18th century, but the church remained unfinished. The north transept was not built and the bell tower only reaches the height of the nave.

architecture

inner space

West portal with inscription

The portal on the west facade dates from the 16th century. The inscription on the lintel reads: “LE PEUPLE FRANÇAIS RECONNAÎT L'EXISTENCE DE L'ÊTRE SUPRÊME ET DE L'IMMORTALITÉ DE L'ÂME” (the French people recognize the existence of the Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul). The inscription commemorates the time of the French Revolution when the church was transformed into the Temple of Reason .

The three-aisled interior is covered by ribbed vaults with elaborately carved keystones , most of which are designed as pendants in the Renaissance style. High, pointed arcades open from the central nave to the two side aisles. The pillars of the transept are with Renaissance capitals decorated. The windows have tracery in the Flamboyant Gothic style.

Hanging
Hanging
Capitals

Leaded glass window

Fragments

In the years 1950 to 1970 fragments of leaded glass windows from the 16th century were built into the white glazing. Saint Rochus can be seen on one disk , and a man's head made in grisaille technique on another . Smaller fragments were mainly inserted in the tracery of individual windows. The scene of the Annunciation is depicted in the upper choir window . On the window below with the depiction of the apostle James the Elder you can see the year 1633.

Saint Roch
Man's head
Angel

19th century window

A window from the 19th century depicts Saints Celestina, Saint Stephen , Saint George and Saint Catherine . In the lower panes you can see the portraits of two pastors of Houdan, a bishop of Versailles and an archbishop of Sens in medallions the inscription of their names. The inscription at the bottom of the picture shows that the window was donated by Étienne Flèche out of gratitude for his recovery in 1839.

Murals

Wall paintings from 1582 have been preserved in a side chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Montserrat . They commemorate the pilgrimage of around 30 citizens from Houdan to the Montserrat monastery in the Spanish region of Catalonia to implore the end of the plague epidemic by the miraculous image of the Black Madonna .

Pilgrimage to Montserrat
Pilgrimage to Montserrat
Pilgrimage to Montserrat

organ

The gallery organ was commissioned in 1734 from Louis-Alexandre Clicquot , son of Robert Clicquot and father of François-Henri Clicquot .

literature

Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos (ed.): Le Guide du Patrimoine. Île-de-France . Hachette, 2nd edition, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-01-016811-9 .
Georges Poisson (ed.): Dictionnaire des Monuments d'Île-de-France . Éditions Hervas, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-84334-002-0 .