JOUARRE
. The ancient city of Dividorum, in Brie near present-day Meaux, was the site of a
prestigious Benedictine abbey for women founded during the Merovingian era, one of the
oldest religious foundations in the Île-de-France. Like many old foundations, Jouarre had
a series of small churches but never a single large abbey church. Important vestiges of the
rectangular crypt (second half of the 7th c.) are preserved behind the 15th-century church.
Its two rows of porphyry and jasper columns, surmounted by white
Jouarre (Seine-et-Marne), plan of
monastery. After Rousseau.
marble capitals, are noteworthy. In the crypt are also found Merovingian sarcophagi with
foliage and cockleshell decorations. The most notable is that of St. Agilbert, 7th-century
bishop of Paris. At the head of the tomb is carved Christ in Majesty, while on the two
sides dead souls raise their arms in prayer.
All that remains of the 12th-century Romanesque church is the bell tower. The nearby
crypt of St. Ébrégésile contains additional Merovingian sarcophagi.
William W.Kibler/William W.Clark
Delahaye, Gilbert-Roland. “Jouarre: état des recherches sur les cryptes mérovingiennes.” In Île-de-
France de Clovis a Hugues Capet. Guiry-en-Vexin: Valhermeil, 1993, pp. 106–10.
Maillé, La Marquise de. Les cryptes de Jouarre. Paris: Picard, 1971.
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