Eglise Saint Etienne

Penalized, inside, by an outrageous restoration carried out in 1877-78, Saint-Etienne is nevertheless an interesting example of Romanesque architecture in Ile-de-France at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries. In spite of this work and the addition of chapels on either side of the choir at the end of the 13th century, the plan and structure of the original building remain perfectly legible. Its plan included a single nave, a projecting transept with a bell tower on the crossing and a choir with a flat chevet. Vaulted with ogives in the 19th century, the nave is today unrecognizable. A small window with a scalloped lintel to simulate an archivolt, to the north, and a portal decorated with broken sticks, to the south, attest to its age. Relatively well preserved (only the southern crosspiece was rebuilt at the end of the 13th and 16th centuries), the transept shows a very interesting structure, conditioned by the presence of the high bell tower sitting on the crosspiece. The latter is covered by a barrel vault arranged along the longitudinal axis. It was counter-balanced by the barrel vault, this time arranged along a transverse axis, of each of the crosspieces. This arrangement has only been preserved in the north cross, which shows a billet decoration on the outside. The nave being wider than the base of the bell tower, two small passages were made in the eastern wall of the nave to allow direct communication between it and the crosspieces. This is a layout that can be found at the same time - including the arrangement of the vaults - in Nogent-sur-Oise. Totally transformed afterwards, the flat chevet choir is only recognizable by the two flat buttresses that support it to the east. Thus well assured on its base, the bell tower is a high tower which has the originality of associating a second floor of square plan with a second of octagonal plan. Each one is perforated with eight semi-circular bays. The passage from one plan to the other is made by simple cut-offs which, combined with the excessive importance given to the masonry separating the two floors, give the whole a certain heaviness that is partly redeemed by the octagonal stone spire. The choir and its chapels should be mentioned - at least inside - only as a reminder because everything was redone, including the capitals, in the 19th century. On the outside, three types of windows can be detailed: simple (north) or double lancet windows topped by a rose for the end of the 13th century, triple lancet windows for the 16th century (choir proper and south cross). The small baroque high altar with twisted columns deserves to be mentioned. Dominique Vermand