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The design was on a grand scale but with a relatively simple plan, initially featuring neither transepts nor radiating chapels (though the latter were added later). The nave was completed up to the gallery vault level by around 1190. The high vaults were in place by around 1200 (c.1225 for the eastern bays) with the roof completed by 1240. The western facade was completed up to the base of the towers some time before 1225. The western towers are mainly 13th century work, except for the upper parts of the north tower, which was only completed in the late 15th century. Both towers had become dangerously unstable by the mid 19th century and were substantially rebuilt to a simpler design by the local architect
Alphonse Durand (a student of
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184:. Although it is an efficient way of minimising the lateral thrusts generated by the gallery vaulting, at Mantes it results in a relatively dark interior. This architectural experiment was not repeated elsewhere and was clearly regarded as something of a failure here too as in the second half of the 14th century the gallery was remodelled in eight of the bays; the barrel vaults were replaced with more conventional
300:. Although most of the original stained glass at Mantes has been lost (mostly during an outbreak of Revolutionary iconoclasm in 1794), the south side of the Navarre Chapel retains four excellent early 14th century roundels depicting Passion scenes, which show a restrained early use of silver stain. The other windows are early 20th century pastiches.
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but that these had been incorporated into the plan by the time that construction began on the upper levels (possibly inspired by developments at Paris
Cathedral, some 30 km to the east). The most distinctive feature however is the vaulting of the gallery level. Originally the bays of the gallery
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Throughout the Middle Ages, Mantes' strategically important position on a navigable river on the boundary between the powerful Duchy of
Normandy (based in Rouen) and the lands of the Capetian Kings (based in Paris) was a double edged sword, contributing to its commercial wealth but also placing it in
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above the central portal is quite an early 'centripetal' type in which the spoke-like colonnettes have their bases outwards and their capitals towards the centre, resulting in a rather awkward arrangement of the segments. Jean Bony regarded this rose window, dated to c.1215, as being a 'clumsy copy'
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Construction of the present building began some time between 1155 and 1170, funded by income from the
Commune and by the generous support of the Crown. Building work started with the raising and reinforcing of the ground along the north of the site, where the land slopes steeply down to the river.
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The
Collegiate Church of Notre Dame dominates views of Mantes, particularly when approaching from the north or east, where it sits on a bluff above a bend in the River Seine. From the exterior, its most distinctive features are the large round windows (oculi) at gallery level (see below), the
110:'s). Its proximity to a strategic river crossing meant that the church was at the centre of heavy aerial bombardment following the allied invasion of France in 1944. In spite of this the church survived WWII relatively unscathed, even though most of the surrounding town was flattened.
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bequeathed it several local villages and a considerable amount of farmland in her will. The
College retained strong associations with the Counts of Blois and also with the royal family - the two abbots who governed between 1134 and 1159 were both brothers of
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in 1110, the first town within the royal domains to receive this lucrative privilege (in medieval France, being granted commune status meant a town was effectively a self-governing free-trade zone). Within the commune the
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town to the ground (in the process sustaining a mortal injury that killed him soon after), prompting a rebuilding programme that lasted through the subsequent two centuries. The town was granted 'commune' status by
52:, it was built on a cathedral-like scale. Its grandeur, its quirky design and its strong associations with the Capetian dynasty make the church particularly interesting to architectural historians.
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theme. Unusually the glass panels are mounted flush with the inside wall, rather than being inserted into glazing slots - a system also found in the west rose at Notre Dame de Paris.
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and predating the more developed version at Notre Dame, Paris (normally dated to 1225). The stained glass, heavily restored and largely replaced in the 19th century, shows a typical
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level are massively built, around 180 cm thick, while those at gallery level are a mere 42 cm thick. This suggests that the original design didn't feature
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civil authority rested with a powerful lay confraternity dedicated to the
Assumption of the Virgin, while religious authority rested with the College of Canons. A
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and the oculi replaced with pointed-arch windows. The resulting bays are noticeably lighter than their unmodified neighbours.
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Internally, the nave has a three-part elevation (arcade, gallery and triforium), topped by a typical early-Gothic
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dedicated to the Virgin had been founded at Mantes some time before 978, in which year the
Countess of
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The west facade retains two 12th century portals. The sculpture of the left portal (c.1170) shows the
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cage-like flying buttresses and the general pock-marked appearance, caused by the unusually prominent
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of the Virgin. The west facade sculpture has clear affinities to that of the west portal of
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Around 1300 the right portal was remodelled in the latest style (probably inspired by the
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and was probably made by a workshop familiar with both of those earlier projects. The
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The Gothic
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church constructed between c.1155 and 1350 in the small town of
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For the chronology, see Frankl, Paul and
Crossley, Paul (ed.),
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The west facade of the Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Mantes
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Mantes médiévale : la collégiale au coeur de la ville
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of England attacked Mantes in 1087 and razed the old
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Width of central aisle: 11.75 metres (38.5 ft)
180:' false gallery on the north side of the choir at
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315:Height of nave vaults: 30 metres (98 ft)
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285:The largest of these new chapels was the
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34:Collégiale Notre-Dame de Mantes-la-Jolie
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159:and columnar piers. The outer walls at
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26:Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Mantes
500:Monuments historiques of ĂŽle-de-France
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298:Jeanne de France (Queen of Navarre)
361:, vol.104 (1946), pp. 163–220
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520:Tourist attractions in Yvelines
192:West facade and eastern chapels
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296:(wife of King Charles IV) and
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366:Notre Dame de Mantes-la-Jolie
312:Width: 29 metres (95 ft)
505:Basilica churches in France
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364:Schwob, T and Sidobre, C,
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337:France in the Middle Ages
436:La Collégiale de Mantes
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