Our Lady of Mantes

The medieval Collegiate Church of Our Lady of Mantes, is a large and historically important Catholic church developed somewhere in the range of c.1155 and 1350 in the community of Mantes-la-Jolie, around 50 km 30 mi west of Paris. In spite of the fact that not a church building it was based on a house of prayer like scale. Its magnificence, its idiosyncratic structure and its solid relationship with the Capetian line make the congregation especially fascinating to building history specialists. Development of the present structure started some time somewhere in the range of 1155 and 1170, financed by pay from the Commune and by the liberal help of the Crown. Building work began with the raising and fortifying of the ground along the north of the site, where the land slants steeply down to the stream. The structure was on a terrific scale yet with a moderately basic arrangement, at first highlighting neither transepts nor emanating sanctuaries.

The Collegiate Church of Notre Dame commands perspectives on Mantes, especially when drawing nearer from the north or east, where it sits on a feign over a twist in the River Seine. From the outside, its most unmistakable highlights are the substantial round windows oculi at display level see beneath, the pen like flying braces and the general scar checked appearance, brought about by the uncommonly noticeable putlog gaps.