Fosses, Val-d'Oise Département, Île-de-France Region, France

🇫🇷 Fosses is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France.

Fosses is a peri-urban city located in the plain of France, about 30 km north-east of Paris. It is divided into two parts: Fosses-village and the rest of the city (Plateau et la Cabine).

Neighboring municipalities The neighboring municipalities are Survilliers, Saint-Witz, Marly-la-Ville, Bellefontaine, Luzarches and La Chapelle-en-Serval (in the neighboring department of Oise). The city of Fosses is served by Survilliers - Fosses station on line D of the RER, and the northern A1 motorway, exit 7.

Geography: Hydrography The Ysieux, a small tributary of the Oise and therefore a sub-tributary of the Seine, 12 km long, has its source there.

Education Schools in Fosses: • Preschools (écoles maternelles): Alphonse Daudet, Alexandre Dumas, La Fontaine, and Frédéric Mistral • Elementary schools: Henri Barbusse, Alphonse Daudet, Alexandre Dumas, and Frédéric Mistral • Collège Stendhal (junior high schools) • Lycée Polyvalent Charles Baudelaire (senior high school).

Places and monuments Fosses has a historical monument on its territory: • Saint-Étienne Church, Grande-Rue, in the village (classified as a historical monument by decree of March 18, 1913): It was built during two construction campaigns, the first of which between 1170 and 1200 is on the choir, the north cross, the northern absidiole, the nave and the two aiside. However, the latter were rebuilt in the 16th century. The south crosspiece and the chapel of the chapel of the Virgin were added during the second campaign around 1230 / 1240, and thus have differences compared to their counterparts in the north. The whole is of primitive Gothic style, as indicated by the remarkable bell tower and the sculpture of the capitals, which are of beautiful quality and represent in a rather naturalistic way some elements of the local flora. We cannot at the same time deny the persistent influence of Romanesque architecture, which is reflected in the semicircular shape of the windows from the first campaign, and the hemicycle plan of the choir, which the church of Fosses shares with a few other Gothic churches of the same period. The northern absidiole is of an archaic conception, and its architecture is less evolved than that of its counterpart in the church of Luzarches, yet fifty years older. The nave belongs to a protog Gothic type characterized by high windows aligned above the pillars of the large arcades, designed not to be vaulted. However, a change of party occurred during the construction of the south wall, whose windows are now located above the arcades, which are therefore lower in height; lateral buttresses indicate that the option of an ogive vault has been chosen. This has never been realized, and the church is effectively built economically, with very limited use of cut stone and a restriction of ornamentation to the strictly necessary. The architectural sobriety had been compensated by murals, of which only vestiges remain, eloquent enough to allow a reconstruction. Shortly before the middle of the 13th century, the nave was equipped with a new western portal, whose layout shows an ambition that is not seen elsewhere in the church. It is the only village church of essentially primitive Gothic style in the entire east of Val-d'Oise, and as such a precious witness to history. Now well restored, it has however been ousted from the calendar of parish masses, and the church of Saint-Étienne no longer plays almost any role in local religious life.