Saint Peter Church of Bois-le-Roi: A Romanesque Catholic Church in France
Site at a Glance
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page4 sections
History
Saint Peter Church of Bois-le-Roi is a Romanesque Catholic church in France, founded in the 12th century and dedicated to Saint Peter, one of Jesus’s apostles and a leading figure in early Christianity. It was probably built over the remains of an earlier religious house established at the request of monks from the Abbey of Saint Peter of Melun, a monastery governed by an abbot or abbess. The church is affiliated with the Diocese of Meaux, a Catholic district under a bishop, and the Fontainebleau missionary center, which coordinates pastoral work among parishes.
In 1837, the church was judged dangerously unstable, and three quarters of the building were reconstructed. The bell tower and main porch were retained. Late in the 19th century, workers replastered the entire interior.
The church was listed as a French historic monument on 18 March 1926, with the commune as its owner. It sustained extensive damage during the Second World War.
Remains
Plan and setting
The church stands in the center of Bois-le-Roi, north of the railway line that crosses the area. It occupies an urban block bounded by Rue de Verdun, Avenue Maréchal-Foch, and Rue des Écoles, with its main entrance on Rue de Verdun. The Romanesque building has a simple nave, the main lengthwise space of a church, with lateral extensions. The earlier church had three naves separated by pointed arches carried on carved pillars.
Tower, porch, and interior features
The square bell tower has two levels and ends in a slightly off-axis spire. The main porch is framed by archivolts, moulded bands around an arch. The western door and the panel above it date to the 18th or 19th century. Most of the stained-glass windows and the Stations of the Cross, devotional images recalling episodes of Jesus’s Passion, are by the 20th-century painter Georges Lecaron (1899–1974). A painting by Lecaron in the sacristy, a room for vestments and liturgical objects, depicts a former parish priest with his altar server. On the south wall of the choir, the area near the altar, a 16th-century sculpted group shows Saint Michael, an archangel in Christian tradition, slaying a dragon. The group measures 132 × 40 × 17 cm.
