Église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine du Bellay-en-Vexin

About

Sainte-Marie-Madeleine Church is a parish Catholic church located in Bellay-en-Vexin, France. From a cruciform plane, it consists of a nave-grange of Romanesque origin, but repeatedly reworked; of a base of the bell tower whose four double arches retain interesting Romanesque capitals from two different construction campaigns, while the vault and its capital columns date only from the late 13th century; of a radiant southern Gothic crusillon; of a flamboyant Gothic chapel to the north; and a small square choir of the Renaissance. The exterior aspect, sober and severe, does not reveal the multiplicity of construction campaigns, which have only slightly altered the primitive plan.

By the two gates, one of which is blocked, and by its steeple in a richly decorated building, the church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine appears above all as a building of the radiant period, and the rare Romanesque elements are visible only from the inside. They form its main interest, but the southern crusillon, formerly chapel of the Virgin, also seduces by its elegance, and one forgets the absence of character of the choir thanks to the presence of a sumptuous...