Church Saint-Aspais

About

Saint Aspais Church is a Catholic parish church located in Melun, France, on the right bank of the Seine River. It is the only church in France dedicated to Saint Aspais, evangelizer of the city at the end of antiquity, whose life is unknown. It is initially located in a suburb, and succeeds a more modest Gothic church, including a capital and some debris found in 2011.

At the end of the 15th century, Saint-Aspais was the most populous parish in the city, and the inhabitants decided to enlarge the church. First, a new bell tower was built north of the façade, and finished around 1480. From 1506 onwards, the facade was redone in the flamboyant Gothic style, as well as the three spans of the nave.

The construction of the new choir was launched on March 23, 1517, under the direction of the Parisian master mason Jehan de Félin, who also provided a plan for the total reconstruction of the church, including the nave built just ten years earlier. De Félin gave more elevation to the choir than the marguilliers had imagined, and cared for the sculpted decoration, which caused the anger of the factory council concerned with the control of the budget, and led to trials. So the...