The Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame (''Collégiale Notre-Dame de Melun'') is a former

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, which may be presided over by ...

, now a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the 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 community activities, ...

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 the Seine-et-Ma ...

, 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 (c. 972 – 20 July 1031), called the Pious (french: link=no, le Pieux) or the Wise (french: link=no, le Sage), was King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted his ...

on the site of an earlier church. Notre-Dame had the status of collegiate church prior to the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

, when the building was secularised. It is now the property of the commune, but has been restored to religious use.

Movable heritage

A famous 15th century painting, the

Melun Diptych The Melun Diptych is a two-panel oil painting by the French court painter Jean Fouquet (c. 1420–1481) created around 1452. The name of this diptych came from its original home in the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame in Melun. The left panel dep ...

, was commissioned by

Étienne Chevalier Étienne Chevalier (c.1410 in Melun – 1474) was a major civil servant of the French kings Charles VII and Louis XI. He is also notable for commissioning two major works by Jean Fouquet - the Melun Diptych (which he gave to the Collégiale ...

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 nineteenth-century French mezzo-soprano, pedagogue and composer of Spanish descent. Born Michelle Ferdinande Pauline García, her name appears in various forms. When it is not simply "Pauli ...

Conservation

In 1840 it was given a heritage designation, ''

monument historique ''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 col ...

''. 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 Île-de-France Melun {{France-church-stub