Wandeling in Champeaux

The most beautiful religious building in the Brie region, the Collegiate Church of Saint-Martin de Champeaux is the only remaining reminder of a college (community) of canons that was home to a famous centre for theological studies and singing.The Collegiate Church of Saint-Martin de Champeaux, listed as a Historic Monument in 1940, is a large and beautiful church built between the mid-12th and early 14th centuries. It was the church of a Chapter of canons, also known as the Collège, hence its name of collegiate church. There was a singing school that trained singers for communities throughout the region in these exceptional acoustics. The prosperity of the canons enabled the construction of a church with remarkable architectural qualities. It is 69.55 m long, 24.20 m wide, 15.30 m high in the nave and has a steeple almost 30 m high. The oldest parts of the building, such as the transept, date back to the mid-12th century, while the rest of the church illustrates the main stages of Radiant Gothic architecture. Completed in the early 14th century, the church has survived almost intact, enriched in the Renaissance by a fine collection of stained glass windows and beautiful choir stalls, and in the 18th century by a large carved wooden altarpiece. The architecture, which is in a fairly simple early Gothic style, is nevertheless enriched by sculptures: a large number of capitals carved with plant motifs, and various figures and monsters dotted around the choir and transept. The Collegiate Church contains the largest collection of 14th-century tombstones in the region. In 1946, faced with the state of disrepair into which the monument had fallen, the Association des Amis de la Collégiale was founded to help the commune preserve and promote this heritage. The Collegiate Church is home to a number of objects protected as Monuments Historiques: 16th-century statues, a 17th-century tabernacle, an 18th-century eagle-lutrin, 19th-century prie-Dieu and a cantor's stool... The famous sculptor Rodin was fascinated by this beautiful monument, to which he often returned. He produced architectural drawings of the Collegiate Church, reproductions of which are on display here. The Guillaume de Champeaux Association has been organising concerts, exhibitions and guided tours of the Collegiate Church since 1983.

A Champeaux, non loin de la Collégiale, le domaine d’Aunoy a conservé son architecture originelle de l'époque classique. Le Château et son joyau : un parc à l’anglaise datant du 18e siècle sont inscrits à l’inventaire des Monuments Historiques.La seigneurie d’Aunoy est attestée dès 1180 et au début du 18e siècle, un château médiéval flanqué de tours est encore visible. C’est à la suite d’un incendie survenu en 1750 qui a ravagé l'ancienne demeure que le propriétaire Jean-Baptiste Chabert, agent de change, en profite pour remodeler complètement le domaine, déplaçant l'habitation plus à l'ouest, ne conservant que quelques signes féodaux comme le pigeonnier et deux tourelles. La résidence voulue par Chabert est caractéristique de l’architecture des maisons nobles de campagne. Le château d’Aunoy présente une particularité importante ; il est dépourvu de plafond et de charpente en bois. La technique de couverture utilisée est celle des plafonds et des combles briquetés. Le château tout juste terminé, Chabert le revend en 1754, à son fils cadet. Il passe ensuite par alliance au célèbre avocat parisien Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Gerbier, en 1761. Gerbier fait réaliser, par un jardinier anglais dont le nom reste inconnu, de nouveaux jardins dans le goût anglais. Les visites du prince de Conti et de la duchesse de Chartres, eux-mêmes amateurs et commanditaires de jardins à l’anglaise, font de ce parc un jardin à la mode. Il s’agit d’un des premiers parcs à l’anglaise réalisés en France. Le parc du château est aujourd'hui connu pour son majestueux platane hybride (Platanus x hispanica) de 30m de haut et 8m de circonférence qui s'étend sur une envergure de plus de 40m. Vieux d'environ 200 ans, il est d'ailleurs classé « arbre remarquable de Seine-et-Marne » (source CAUE77). Dans les années 1960, la propriété appartenait à Emmanuel Motte, le directeur du style de la mythique Maison Jansen, qui entreprit d’importants travaux de restauration à la fois dans le château et dans le parc. Il décore les salons selon la mode du 18e siècle, enlève les toitures des ailes basses et fait de nombreux aménagements dans le parc. Actuellement, propriété de M. Tapiau, ancien antiquaire et collectionneur d'art, les communs du château sont maintenant aménagés pour accueillir séminaires et réceptions.

À Champeaux, le City Stade, la piste de course, les installations de fitness, l'aire de jeux pour enfants et les tables de pique-nique sont à votre disposition pour profitez du grand air !Terrain multisport : football, hockey sur gazon, badminton, handball, tennis, tennis ballon, volleyball, basketball... - déconseillé aux enfants de moins de 36 mois - les enfants sont obligatoirement placés sous la responsabilité des adultes Aire de jeux pour enfants : - placés sous la responsabilité des adultes - espace non fumeur Espace fitness : - équipements destinés uniquement aux jeunes et adultes de plus de 1,40cm. Accès libre et gratuit.

The story begins like a fairy tale: "Once upon a time, there was the Val d'Ancœur..." with its castles, its legends and the 3 names of this small stream, which has become a myth, from Ancœur to Ancoeuil and ends in Almont... before flowing into the Seine.(extract from the Archives Départementales website) The ru d'Ancoeur is a watercourse which rises in the commune of Grandpuits-Bailly-Carrois at an altitude of 125 m. It then takes the name of "Ancoeuil" in the commune of Moisenay and, after a journey of 25 km from its source, flows into the Bassin de la Poële at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte. At the end of this basin, it flows into the Almont 5 km downstream into the Seine at Melun. Together with its tributaries, it forms a catchment area of approximately 306 km². The ru d'Ancoeur flows through the municipalities of Grandpuits-Bailly-Carrois, La Chapelle-Gauthier, Bréau, Bombon, Saint-Méry, Blandy-les-Tours, Moisenay, Maincy and Melun. Classified as an "Exceptional Site" since 14 October 1985 by the Direction Régionale et Interdépartementale de l'Environnement et de l'Energie d'Île-de-France, the ru d'Ancœur offers enchanting landscapes. The listed site covers 1861 hectares. Along its watercourses - the Almont, the Ancoeuil (or Ancueil) and then the Ancoeur - the Val d'Ancœur offers panoramic views: villages, forests, châteaux (Vaux-le-Vicomte, Blandy-Les-Tours, etc.) and, at the confluence with the Seine, urbanised areas. "The Ancoeur is a river with very little water, very irregular and in danger of running dry on a regular basis. The water level in its catchment area is 96 millimetres a year, which is one of the lowest in France, more than three times lower than the average for the country as a whole, and above all well below the average for the whole of the Seine basin (around 240 millimetres). For centuries, however, the constant flow of the river Ancoeur has enabled numerous mills to operate. The large number of hydraulic structures, such as canals, basins and ponds, small reservoirs and mills, give the landscape a distinctive identity based on water and its control. This is linked to the wet nature of the land. A place where people live, produce and create, the Val d'Ancoeur is home to a number of major heritage sites throughout the area: churches and works of art dating back to the 12th century, castles, farms, mills, rural housing, small-scale rural heritage, and so on. It has also become a subject of reflection and aesthetic admiration thanks to the artists who have seized upon its beauty to interpret it in their own way. - L'Ancueil ("Anqueil" in its 17th-century spelling), for example, gave its name to a majestic statue in the grounds of Vaux-le-Vicomte located to the left of the grotto complex (1659-1662), facing the Tiber installed to the right in 1659. - In 1879, the painter Paul Cézanne immortalised the Pont de Maincy (preserved at the Musée d'Orsay). - And sculptor Auguste Rodin devoted some superb drawings to the Collegiate Church of Champeaux (1890-1917), testifying to his admiration. For several years now, the Communauté de Communes Brie des Rivières et Châteaux and the Communauté d'Agglomération Melun Val de Seine have been working together to draw up a Landscape Plan to highlight the assets of the Val d'Ancoeur. An opportunity to protect and enhance the landscape heritage. The perimeter of the listed site covers 11 communes in an area of around 56 km². As the crow flies, it is almost 17 km long.