I am becoming sentimental again, and even if mentioned in previous post do not have one alone on it and it so richly deserves one me think. I like to tell you a bit on the city of Pontoise. A family gathering for several years while visiting and early living in my belle France. Therefore, this is my take on this is Pontoise !!! Hope you enjoy it as I.
The City of Pontoise is located in dept no 95 of Val d’Oise in the Île-de-France region of my belle France, It is on the right bank of the Oise river, 31 km from Paris, 36 km from Versailles, and 485 km from my current house, The neighboring towns dear to me are Auvers-sur-Oise 6 km , Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône,2 km (my Mom crematorium was/is here), Éragny 5 km, Cergy 5 km, and Osny 5 km, The City is cross by the RN 14 just before it is the A15 same road, Also, the D 915 connects to the A15 dir Rouen from Paris, You can go to Versailles and western Paris by the N184, There are five bridges in Pontoise: Pont de Pontoise (reopened after the war, in 1948); Pontoise railway bridge ; 6 tracks serving the Pontoise station + 1 pedestrian and cycle gateway; Pont de l’Ecluse (20C): private For the functioning of the lock (rebuilt dam); A15 bridge (1970s) 8 lanes; Pont de l’Oise or d’Eragny (1990), The train station has the distinction of being connected at the same time to the stations of Paris-Saint-Lazare (Transilien J) and Paris-Nord (Transilien H) and also served by the RER C , and therefore connects to the Paris -Austerlitz train station, It is also possible to access the city from Cergy-Préfecture train station on RER A , and occasionally the Transilien L, connected by several bus lines in a few minutes. The anecdote is that here my dear late wife Martine took the bus express 95 18 to work at Roissy CDG airport cargo terminal with DHL Global Forwarding,(a great company with a wonderful group of people thanks).
This was a transit town while living in Versailles and working in Paris for several years, sadly did not took the time to see the monuments here just a visit to a friend of my wife from work that did visit her house and she ours while living there, so for the memories of always will put the pictures of us here and write this post as an introduction to Pontoise !
The City of Pontoise is rich in more than two thousand years of history, the historic capital of the French Vexin and the major city of the kingdom in the Middle Ages, it was made famous in Impressionist art following the long stay of Camille Pissarro, who represented it In many works, shown in the greatest museums in the world. Thanks to its rich heritage, Pontoise obtained the city of art and history label in 2006. You can see here the Saint-Maclou Cathedral, at place du Petit Martroy ,Done in composite style, with bedside and transept in primitive Gothic (12C, in the façade in flamboyant Gothic (15C), and on the side of Renaissance style (16C. It dominates the old center of Pontoise. The Saint-Maclou Church was consecrated cathedral in 1966. This is one of the rare cathedrals not belonging to the State. The Notre Dame Church at Place Notre-Dame and the Saint-Pierre des Louvrais Church at place de la paix. The Saint-Mathias Chapel at boulevard des Cordeliers. Open relatively recently, it however benefits from ancient woodwork for the choir but also from an altar and a stained glass dating from the 19C. Chapel of the Carmélites convent,at rue Pierre-Butin. Placed under the term of Saint-Joseph, was founded in 1605. It is the oldest Carmel in activity in France.
The Moulin des Patis or La Couleuvre,at 2 rue des Deux-Ponts is a 18C mill painted by Paul Cézanne. Former location hospital, 85 rue Basse; ruelle des Enfermés, the facade of 1772 was distinguished by its immense classic style gate. The building now hosts the Parc-aux-Charrettes school. At the right corner of the facade is the petrified fountain, once fed by the aqueduct of the source of Busagny , The facade of the old City/town hall, Place du Petit-Martroy: this small 18C building has a portal offered in 1779 by the Prince of Conti. It gives access to the Jardin de la Ville Remparts ( garden of the city ramparts), rue de la Coutellerie and boulevard Jean-Jaurès ;an artillery terrace is visible from the town hall garden; Another is below and can be seen from the boulevard. The remains date from a period from 12C to the 15C, the artillery terraces being the most recent , The city has a large network of cellars and underground. Mont Bélien, on which the old Pontoise castle had been built, is a limestone spur. The extraction of the material necessary for construction has left many cellars and quarries from the 12C to the 16C: The « carrière du Château », « port souterrain », « glacière », « cave des Moineaux » , the underground chapel of the presbytery, etc, The Musée Tavet-Delacour museum,of medieval sculptures, 18C manuscripts, and 20C paintings: installed in a mansion from the end of the 15C, formerly remains of the great vicar of Pontoise, and the historic collections of the City. The Camille-Pissarro museum, Impressionist collections, in the park of the old castle: installed in a bourgeois house which dominates the Valley of Oise and the old town, on the site of the old royal castle, the museum pays homage to the work of the painter lived in Pontoise between 1866 and 1883. Pissarro was at the origin of stays in Pontoise and Auvers-sur-Oise of Cézanne, Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh.
A bit of history I like tell us that the Merovingian town is located on the plateau of Saint-Martin, near the Roman road which links Paris to Rouen in the 9C during the Carolingian era, Pontoise is a shopping town. It is the only place in the region where you can cross the Oise. In 862, Charles Le Chauve ordered to stop the Normans to block the rivers with fortified bridges; The first bridge of Pontoise probably dates from that time. In 885, the Normans, mounted on 700 boats, enter the Oise, besiege and take the city of Pontoise, defended by Aletramme . Due to this threat, the inhabitants settled on Mount Bélien, easy to defend, and the city is definitively established there. A castle is built there by the counts of Vexin. In 911, at the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, Charles Le Simple, king of the Franks, gave Rollon, a Norman, the lands of the Epte to the sea. Pontoise quickly became a border city and defends the surroundings of Paris . In 1031, the Duke of Normandy, Robert I of Normandy having helped King Henri I against a revolt of the Dowager Queen, Constance of Arles, received in thanks the French Vexin, between Epte and Oise with Pontoise the city is surrounded by a wall, the bridge over the Oise is rebuilt in stone and fortified and the powerful royal castle, dominating the city and the Oise, was then rebuilt from 1103 to 1122. It becomes one of the favorite places of stay of Capetians, In particular Philippe Auguste and Saint Louis. In 1188, Philippe Auguste gave it a city charter, in exchange for the care by the bourgeois of the city’s fortification works and an servants service, In 1204, Philippe Auguste annex Normandy, which lesses Its strategic position but increases its safety in return. From the reign of Saint Louis, Pontoise becomes a royal residence. His mother, Blanche de Castille, then founded on the other bank of Maubuisson’s abbey, the latest Capetian monastic creation, in which she is buried. The 15C was the time of decline. although powerfully fortified, the city passes several times in the hands of the English. Indeed, in 1417, the English took the city, then it was the turn of the Burgundians in 1419. liberated in 1436, the city was reconquered by the English the following year. It was only definitively taken up by the King of France in 1441 after a truant siege of three months.
The 16C was marked by the wars of religion. Pontoise as Paris remains opposed to Protestantism, during the Fronde (1652), the members of the Paris Parliament faithful to the King sit there. Many convents and monasteries settled in Pontoise: the Carmelites in 1605 (initially rue Marcel-Rousier then in the monastery of rue Pierre-Butin where the Carmel is still today), the Ursulines in 1611, the Jesuits in 1604, the English Benedictines in 1658. On the political level, Louis XIV must take refuge at the Pontoise castle during the Fronde. He brought the parliament to Pontoise in 1652. But after this episode, the castle is abandoned. The fortifications are sold and destroyed as well as the old Pontoise castle by Louis XV, due to unsanitary conditions , During the French revolution, the secularization of the goods of the clergy brings a fatal blow to several religious establishments. Saint-Mellon is destroyed as well as Saint-Pierre and Saint-André. The Ursulines and the Jesuits as well as the Abbey of Saint-Martin disappeared, In September 1870 took place the disaster of Sedan and the Franco-Prussian war; From the 15th of September, Uhlans riders were looking for a visit to the Oise to join Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, Pontoise was occupied from September 18, 1870 to June 26, 1871, In September 1914, the outposts of the German army, on the right bank, arrived in Auvers-sur-Oise, but the German army was quickly forced to fall back because of the counter-attack of the French army , with the help of Parisian taxis sent by General Gallieni Pontoise is not occupied. During WWII, Pontoise was preparing at worst ; the Hôtel-Dieu disappears with all its archives. For four years, Pontoise saw, like all of France, at the time of the restrictions of the curfew at 22h, the submissive press and the sound of boots of occupation troops, especially in the Saint-Martin district. The city was finally liberated on August 30 1944, In 1968 with the creation of the Val-d’Oise department 95, Pontoise became the “prefecture” city of the new department, the headquarters of a bishopric in 1966 it then became the center of the new city of Cergy-Pontoise, alongside the village of Cergy.
The City of Pontoise on its heritage : https://www.ville-pontoise.fr/larchitecture-et-le-patrimoine
The metro area of Cergy-Pontoise on Pontoise : https://www.cergypontoise.fr/pontoise
The Cergy-Pontoise tourist office on Pontoise : https://www.ot-cergypontoise.fr/en/the-cergy-pontoise-agglomeration/pontoise/
There you go folks, as said my blog is my life’s history ,here is a bit more of it, An off the beaten path city of my belle France, worth the detour for the history of it, me think. Again, hope you enjoy this post on this is Pontoise !!! as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 