Montréal - Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption

Today Montréal is a small village (pop. 200), but here was already a fortified settlement, when the Normans raided the area and pillaged the place in 888. From the 11th century on here was a castle. Anseric I, Seigneur de Montréal, obviously listened to Bernard de Clairvaux, who preached the Second Crusade at near Vezelay in 1146.

Returning home from the crusade Anseric I founded a collegiate and commissioned the erection of the collegiate church, seen here. The church was completed around 1170 by Anseric II. The convent existed upto the French Revolution.

During the Revolution, the tympanum got destroyed and when for a year, the church served as a "Temple de la Raison". The according inscription is fading over the doors, where once the tympanum was. Today church serves the parish. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was impressed by the church, built during the transition from Romanesque to Gothic style, and cared for the restauration in the first half of the 19th century.

Inside the former collegiate church are some extraordinary choir stalls, carved in 1522. I wonder how they survived the time, when this was a "Temple de la Raison" during the Revolution.

Not all of the carvings have biblical scenes. Here are two clerics having a couple of large aperitifs. Prosit! Cheers! Santé!