Notre-Dame de Villeneuve-l'Archevêque, où le roi reçut la Couronne d'épines

Villeneuve-l'Archevêque

The town is new, laid out with a line in the middle of the 12th century on the frontier between the royal domain and the county of Champagne, and it takes its name from the archbishops of Sens who were its lords. It was here that, on 10 August 1239, the convoy halted that was bringing from Venice, by the roads of the Empire and under safe-conduct from Frederick II, the Crown of Thorns bought back from the creditors of the emperor Baldwin II. King Louis, his mother Blanche of Castile, his brothers, Archbishop Gautier Cornut and a crowd of barons and knights had come there to await it. The chest was opened, the seals that the envoys of the king and the emperor had affixed at Constantinople and Venice were checked, the king added his own, and the reliquary was carried into the church. The next day, it was at Sens; a week later, the king carried it barefoot through Paris. Gautier Cornut, who was there, left an account of the day. The church has kept from that century its nave and its north portal, one of the fine pages of Champenois Gothic sculpture: three trefoiled arcades, a smiling angel, the Virgin of the Annunciation, and on the tympanum the story of Mary, to whom the church is dedicated. The transept and the choir were rebuilt around 1530–1540; an Entombment of 1528, from the neighbouring Cistercian abbey of Vauluisant, is attributed to the Master of Chaource. Near the high altar, a statue shows Saint Louis holding the Crown.

Wikipédia — Église Notre-Dame de Villeneuve-l'Archevêque ↗

Getting there : By the D 660 between Sens and Troyes; park on the square, in front of the church. The sculpted north portal can be seen from the street at any hour; the interior is open for services and during organised visits, enquire at the town hall or at the Sens tourist office. Allow half an hour for the portal, the statue of the king and the Entombment.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound