Eglise Saint Aubin & Abbaye de Saint Germer

Church of Saint Aubin Nestled in the charming valley of the Réveillon, Reilly is one of the most charming villages of the Oise. Its medieval monumental heritage - the Romanesque church of Saint-Aubin, the manor farms of Saint-Germer, with its chapel, and Saint-Aubin, and the mill - is indeed exceptional and benefits from a setting that particularly enhances it. Dominating the village with the high stone spire of its bell tower, Saint-Aubin is a good example of rural Romanesque architecture from the end of the 11th century. The plan, as always very simple, is composed of a single nave followed by a narrower bay carrying the bell tower and a choir, here rebuilt in the 13th century and with a flat chevet. A small semi-circular apse was originally intended to complete the building. To the south, the nave has kept its fishbone structure and a door (blocked) with a semicircular arch. On the façade, a small porch with a carinated frame, from the 16th century, unfortunately hides the portal, whose lintel is decorated with engraved stars and spoked wheels, the center being occupied by the representation of a small angel with spread wings. The most remarkable part of the church is the bell tower, the base of which has retained its original layout of four semicircular arches surmounted by a groin vault. The belfry floor is openwork with two semi-circular geminated bays on each side. Columns adorn the pedestals and billets underline the archivolts. The cornice with modillions decorated with moldings, animal heads and masks serves as a base for the high octagonal stone spire. At the corners, four small pyramids visually facilitate the transition between the square plan of the tower and the octagonal plan of the spire. Built at the beginning of the 12th century, the spire of Reilly must be considered, along with that of Saint-Vaast-de-Longmont, as the oldest preserved example in the region of a type of crowning which will be very successful during the whole Middle Ages. Abbey of Saint Germer (private) In 1299 or 1300, the powerful abbey of Saint-Germer-de-Fly acquired from Gui de Beaumont the property he owned in Reilly. Abbot Foulques immediately undertook the construction of a manor-farm, to which the mill and the chapel still bear witness today. The magnificently restored ensemble formed by the farm's double entrance door and the chapel itself, which occupies the second floor, must be considered a true rarity. The first floor is divided into two parts. The first one corresponds to the two entrance doors - cart and pedestrian - of the manor. Its two corridors of unequal width are each covered with three ribbed vaults falling towards the center on two square piers. The second part consists of a room of indefinite use, covered with three ribbed vaults. In the northeast corner, a stair turret leads to the chapel itself, which has the same rectangular plan as the first floor on which it is based. The chapel was for private use par excellence, as its location on the first floor proves. It is covered with a very beautiful hull roof structure contemporary with the construction. At the chevet, a huge window opened, now blocked, but whose network must have been made up of four lancets topped by three poly-lobed roses. A small niche, covered with a broken cradle, is contiguous to the south. Its use is difficult to determine with certainty. The south wall, where a beautiful pool can be seen, is lit - probably for security reasons - only by two small four-lobed oculi. The north side, on the other hand, is lit by two windows with a beautiful radiating network, characteristic of the period. A door on the west side shows that the dwelling was located on this side. Dominique Vermand

DATAtourisme France