page_title: Montivilliers Abbey
section_title: The abbey church
hierarchical_section_title: Montivilliers Abbey / The abbey church
caption_attribution_description: L'église abbatiale de Montivilliers (Seine-Maritime).
context_page_description: Montivilliers Abbey is a former Benedictine nunnery, founded between 682 and 684 by Saint Philibert in the town of Montivilliers in Normandy, in the present department of Seine-Maritime, France. It was suppressed during the French Revolution, but many buildings, including the church, have survived.
context_section_description: The original plan of the 11th-century church, of Benedictine type, was modified in the 15th century. At the crossing, however, the church has retained a monumental bell tower from the late 11th century.
  The façade dates from the first half of the 12th century. It was originally supposed to have two towers, like the churches of Jumièges and Boscherville, but only the northern one has survived. Above the Romanesque portal, a large Gothic window was added in the 14th century.
  In the nave, only the south side, restored in the 19th century, is still Romanesque. In the Flamboyant Gothic style, the nave is illuminated by the large windows of six adjoining chapels.
  At the crossing, a 17th-century vault hides the 12th-century vault. The arms of the transept are covered with rib vaults of archaic style, without keys, separated by a band decorated with chevrons (bâtons brisés). The semicircular arch that opened onto the southern apse chapel shows twenty keystones carved with anecdotal scenes or stylised animals.
  The choir, three bays deep and much modified in the 17th century, still reveals its primitive Romanesque structure, especially in the high columns that marked the start of the semicircle of the apse. 
  The abbey church was classified as a monument historique by the 1862 list and various parts of the abbey were classified in 1992.
  The abbey's organ is by Louis Debierre whose centenary was celebrated on 27 September 1992 with a recital given by Pierre Pincemaille.
caption: The abbey church
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