Well, here I am again visiting my dear memorable Meaux, and the Faubourg Saint Nicolas;district, So many wonderful memories flashing walking these streets and sad with my dear late wife Martine not accompanying me. This is City that is worth the detour me think, do read my other posts on it. Let me tell you again a bit on the Church Saint Nicolas of Meaux !! Hope you enjoy this post as I.
The Church Saint-Nicolas is at 11 rue de Faubourg-Saint-Nicolas. This was the neighborhood by the same name where my dear late wife Martine was born; so obviously I know it well. Even if with lots of memories, glad to stop by it again, The Church Saint-Nicolas is in fact the former chapel of the Cordeliers convent, installed in Meaux since the 13C. According to the historical tradition perpetuated by the convent itself, in 1248 the Franciscans set up their establishment in the Faubourg Saint-Nicolas on land donated by Jean Rose (ancestor of the 14C rich merchant). However, the scroll of the dead bears mention of the Cordeliers of Meaux from 1234, which implies a somewhat earlier arrival. There is not much online on it but I have a historical book on Meaux showing all monuments and their history !!
The Church Saint Nicolas has an elongated plan with a single aisle, terminated in the east by an apse originally with cut sides, on which has been grafted a semicircular chapel on two levels with crypt and upper chapel. The first bay is occupied by an entrance vestibule surmounted by a bell tower. The nave and the choir, whose limit is marked only by a step, occupy the rest of the rectangle. Their elevation is very simple with each bay delimited by two buttresses and lit on an ogival bay, without tracery. The north side is blind ,except for a small pierced bay near the organ stand, and a window. The whole is covered by a false wooden vault. The interior walls have a neoclassical ornamentation: pilasters, dentil cornice. A partition fitted out in the 1960s hides the cut sides and the apsidal chapel which end the church to the east. The apsidal chapel is clearly distinguished from the rest of the building, both by its neo-Gothic style and by its two-storey structure. The upper chapel was adorned with wall paintings which are now partly covered with white wash. It is the only vestige of the paintings which adorned the whole church in the 19C.
In accordance with the tradition of the mendicant orders, the Franciscan chapel was a building of great simplicity: it had only one vessel, each bay being marked by an ogival bay, without tracery, between two buttresses. This part indicates a medieval dating maybe end of the 15C, but the chapel was subsequently greatly altered, with the installation, at the beginning of the 18C, of a low arched roof and a decoration of pilasters. The buildings of the Cordeliers convent were in fact the subject of major works around 1700, affecting both the church in 1706 and the dormitory in 1708. This campaign was accompanied by a renewal of the furniture such as the high altar, its altarpiece, the paintings of the two small altars were redone from 1696 to 1712. The two paintings representing Saint Francis and Saint Roch, the latter signed and dated Guy- Louis Vernansal, 1701, are probably the remains of this Louis XIV style decoration.
The convent was sold as national property during the French revolution. During this period, the monks were expelled and the church became a place of accommodation for troops, then a warehouse. Following a 19C Royal ordinance, six years of work were necessary for the reopening of the place of worship. The city then acquired the church by August 1791, used as a stable and as a warehouse. In 1837, the church was transferred to the parish of Meaux.
The architects to return the building to worship carried out significant work, again celebrated within its walls from 1842. Other interventions proved necessary in the 1850s, in particular at the level of the buttresses. It is also from this period that the apse chapel dates, a neo-Gothic extension on two levels with crypt and upper chapel, commissioned in 1849 by the parish priest, Father Berthemet. As for the conventual buildings, they were occupied in the 19C by the gendarmerie, the municipal library and the school of the brothers, which today is the Pasteur elementary school and the Henri IV college (middle school).
The Catholic diocese of Meaux on the Church Saint Nicolas : https://www.catho77.fr/entite/eglise-st-nicolas-5/
The City of Meaux on its heritage : https://www.ville-meaux.fr/ma-ville-et-actualites/tourisme/balade-a-meaux
The Local Meaux Marne Ourcq tourist office on the heritage of Meaux : https://www.meaux-marne-ourcq.com/decouvrir/incontournables-meaux-marne-ourcq/la-cite-episcopale-de-meaux/
There you go folks, another gem in my dear Meaux that I have walked by it again in the district of my dear late wife Martine. Again, hope you enjoy the Church Saint Nicolas of Meaux, part II !! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 