Church of Notre-Dame, Villeneuve-sur-Yonne

Its first stone was blessed by Pope Alexander III in 1163[1] at the same time of Notre Dame de Paris. The great Renaissance porch was built in 1575 from sketchings of Jean Chéreau,[2] born in Joigny.

The Church was registered in 1862 into Monuments historiques.[3] It is a remarkable example of a Gothic church from the School of Champagne, or Île de France. Some of the stained glass windows are from the 13th century (north side)[4] and others from the 16th century (The Life of the Virgin, south side, 1st chapel). You can notice one of the first examples in a stained glass of a figure with spectacles. This window depicting the Last Judgement is due to Jean Cousin the Younger. The statue of the Virgin with a Bird (14th century)[5] is from a royal manufacturer (right side). A Madonna with the Child is a polychromatic statue from the 16th century (left side). Other interesting elements are paintings such as The Adoration of the Shepherds (around 1780) from François-Guillaume Ménageot,[6] an Immaculate Conception and a portrait of saint Louis worshipping the Crown of thorns.[7]

The organ (18th century) was restored in 1992. Concerts are organized during summer.

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  The Adoration of the Shepherds (from Ménageot)
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  Organ (18th century)
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  The Virgin with the Bird (14th century)
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  Main altar (18th century)

• Jean-Luc Dauphin, Découvrir Villeneuve-sur-Yonne et le Villeneuvien, éditions des Amis du Vieux Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, 1994
• Eugène Lefèvre-Pontalis, « L'Église de Villeneuve-sur-Yonne », Congrès archéologique de France, LXXIVe session : séances générales tenues à Avallon en 1907, Paris/Caen, A. Picard / H. Delesques, vol. 70, 1908, pp. 654–674

• Official website

48.0820°N 3.2948°E / 48.0820; 3.2948