I like to tell you more on the small town; you might recall the name, Sceaux. There is a wonderful castle and park ,and this nice church,which I am lucky to found me pictures in my cd rom vault to do this post for you and me, I will tell you a lot more thanks to their official site, all worth the detour, me think, The town of Sceaux is located in the Hauts-de-Seine department 92 in the Île-de-France region of my belle France. Therefore, here is my take on the Church Saint Jean Baptiste of Sceaux !!! Hope you enjoy ithe post as I,
The Church of Saint John the Baptist is located at the corner of Rue Houdan and Rue du Docteur-Berger, The church was built in 1203 on the site of a 12C chapel. The current church was built in 1476, Successive additions between the 12C and 19C combine Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance styles, giving it a unique character. Among the remarkable and listed works are: two 16C stained-glass windows, two stained-glass panels with the Tree of Jesse, Saints, the sculpted group of the Baptism of Christ by Jean-Baptiste Tuby, several funerary plaques including that of the Duchess of Maine, the medallion on the altar of the Virgin, the altar-tomb of Saint Mammès and its painting, and the two wooden consoles. Intimately linked to the history of Sceaux,
An 18C altar is still dedicated to this saint in the right-hand side chapel at the back of the church. It contains the reliquary, likely made in 1726 for the Duke of Maine upon the donation of a relic of Saint Mammès by the chapter of Langres. Saint Mammès is depicted there as a shepherd holding his crook. Also depicted, in 1898-1899, is Saint Mammès in a stained-glass window on the reverse of the facade: the martyred saint is tied to a post, having just tamed the lion that was about to devour him, while Roman soldiers flee in the background. The spire of the bell tower, which collapsed during the French revolution, was not rebuilt until 1853 thanks to the Duke of Trévise. The current facade dates from the 19C. The oldest stained-glass windows date from the 16C.
A bit of history I like tell us that in the 12C, a chapel dedicated to Saint Mammès stood in Sceaux ; the village was still part of the parish of Châtenay at the time. At the beginning of the 13C, the village of Sceaux became a parish, and on the site of the chapel, a church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist was built in 1203. The church was enlarged in 1476 at the request of the local lord, Jean II Baillet. Following a fire that damaged it in 1530, it was partially rebuilt in 1545. Finally, from 1719 to 1726, the parish priest Guy-Louis Baudouin oversaw expansions and restorations of the older sections, giving the church its current proportions. The decree of the National Convention of November 10, 1793,during the French revolution, transformed the church into a Temple of Reason, which served as a City/town hall, a charity office, the headquarters of the Popular Society, a saltpeter refinery, and a warehouse. On May 22, 1794, the church became a Temple of the Supreme Being. On June 5, 1795, the church was returned to religious use.
The Church Saint Jean Baptiste has been a center of significant musical activity since the Baroque period. The presence at the château of the family of Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, Duke of Maine, legitimized son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, undoubtedly contributed to this, as the princes and the court frequently visited the estate and the parish. The organ boasts an elegant small case dating from the late 17C. The instrument in Sceaux originated from the church of the Sainte-Catherine-du-Val-des-Écoliers convent. When the convent was closed in 1767, and its church demolished in 1777 due to its dilapidated state, the organ was purchased by the parish priest at the time and installed in the parish church, on the current gallery, which is decorated in the Louis XIV style, although it is impossible to definitively say whether the gallery already existed or was built specifically for this purpose. The organ was nearly destroyed during the French revolution. The new organ was delivered on December 22, 1873. The Church Saint-Jean-Baptiste is also a place of life and activity, as evidenced by the concerts organized throughout the year.
The Parrish of Saint Jean Baptiste of Sceaux : https://paroisse-sceaux.fr/patrimoine/redecouvrir-notre-eglise/
The Sceaux tourist office on the church : https://tourisme.sceaux.fr/eglise-saint-jean-baptiste
The town of Sceaux on its heritage : https://www.sceaux.fr/ma-ville/une-ville-patrimoine
The Hauts de Seine dept 92 tourist office on the heritage of Sceaux(other) : https://destination.hauts-de-seine.fr/musee-chateaux-dans-les-hauts-de-seine.html
There you go folks, another quant ,nice beautiful castle park of Sceaux in my former backyard. Oh yes ,the church is worth the detour and needs more time , eventually. Again, hope you enjoy the post on the Church Saint Jean Baptiste of Sceaux !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
