Collégiale Saint Quiriace, Provins, Seine-et-Marne

The Collégiale Saint Quiriace, a World Heritage Site, is a twelfth century church located in Provins, Seine-et-Marne, about 77 kilometers southeast of Paris, that was never completed due to high costs of constructing the church in its planned dimensions.  A collégiale, or collegiate church, is a church that also comprises its own religious community, in this case, a community of (most likely lay) clergymen who formed Saint Quiriace’s chorus or choir.

An earlier church on the same site was deemed to be too small to accommodate all of the local worshipers and clergymen.  In about 1062, approximately 100 priests were part of the Collégiale Saint Quiriace.

In approximately 1160, the Count of Champagne, Henri the Liberal, decided to have a new collégiale erected on the site.  Upon his death in 1181, however, construction work on the church ceased, though the priests were still housed in the existing edifice.  In the sixteenth century, it was decided to permanently seal the unfinished nave.  In 1662, the upper portions of the church were victim of a fire.  The upper nave was restored in the following two years.

On August 3, 1429, Joan of Arc and King Charles II attended mass at the Church of Saint Quiriace.