The Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame ( French: ''Collégiale Notre-Dame de Melun'') was a

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

, now a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in the French town of

Melun Melun () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of Seine-et-Marne, ...

, on rue de la Courtille on the île Saint-Etienne.

History

The building dates back to the 11th century and was founded by

Robert II of France Robert II ( 972 – 20 July 1031), called the Pious () or the Wise (), was List of French monarchs, King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted his father on military matters ...

on the site of an earlier church. Notre-Dame had the status of collegiate church prior to the French Revolution, when the building was secularised. It is now the property of the commune, but has been restored to religious uses.

Movable heritage

A famous 15th century painting, the Melun Diptych, was commissioned by Étienne Chevalier to hang in the church. It remained there until the 18th century. The church has a two-manual Cavaillé-Coll organ. The instrument was acquired at the end of the 19th century from the singer

Pauline Viardot Pauline Viardot (; 18 July 1821 – 18 May 1910) was a French dramatic mezzo-soprano, composer and pedagogue of Spanish descent. Born Michelle Ferdinande Pauline García,FitzLyon, p. 15, referring to the baptismal name. Thbirth recorddigitized a ...

Conservation

In 1840 it was given a heritage designation, ''

monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

''. Some restoration work was carried out in the 19th century. The building suffered damage in the Second World War and much of the glass needed to be replaced.

References

Former collegiate churches in France Monuments historiques of Seine-et-Marne Melun {{France-RC-church-stub