Pontoise Cathedral

Pontoise Cathedral Cathédrale Saint-Maclou de Pontoise
Pontoise Cathedral
Basic information
Location	Pontoise,  France
Geographic coordinates	Coordinates: 49°3′2″N 2°5′50″E / 49.05056°N 2.09722°E / 49.05056; 2.09722
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Province	Diocese of Pontoise
Region	Val-d'Oise
Country	France
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Cathedral
Status	Active
Architectural description
Architectural type	church
Architectural style	Flamboyant, Renaissance
Groundbreaking	12th century
Completed	18th century

Pontoise Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Saint-Maclou de Pontoise) is a Roman Catholic church located in the town of Pontoise, on the outskirts of Val d'Oise in Paris, France. The cathedral is a national monument.

The church, raised to the status of cathedral in 1966 when the Diocese of Pontoise was created, is dedicated to Saint Maclovius (Maclou). Construction began in the 12th century on the site of an ancient chapel of Saint Eustace and the building was enlarged and completed in the 15th and 16th centuries. Thus the central and eastern parts of the cathedral are 12th century, while the tower and the central portal are in the Flamboyant style. There are Renaissance additions flanking the central structure, and a north portal of the same period.

Pontoise Cathedral was not built as a cathedral , but as a parish church in the northern part of the town of Pontoise, around the middle of the 12th century. The first parish priest was Robert who lived in year 1165. 

A parish of Saint-Maclou was not attested until 1213 , and it was endowed with a double cure until 1736 , a peculiarity that can be explained by the previous existence of a chapel of Saint-Eustache having cohabited a time with Saint-Maclou, or by the division of a seigneurial inheritance comprising altar revenues. The second possibility is more plausible because the chapel was founded in year 1110 and was only served by vicars of the parish of Saint-Mellon, and was perhaps only a lateral chapel of a first church Saint-Maclou known since year 1090.

The creation of the Val-d'Oise department led to the founding of a diocese of Pontoise on 9 October 1966 , And the erection of the main church of the episcopal city to the rank of cathedral at the same time.

Apart from the small circle of cathedrals built as such in the territory of the present Île-de-France region , the Saint-Maclou church can be considered as one of the most important buildings, both for its dimensions and for its Architectural value, with the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame of Mantes-la-Jolie, the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame-du-Fort d'Étampes and the collegiate church of Saint-Martin d'Étampes. The first study appears from 1587, and it is one of the first five on the territory of the present department of Val-d'Oise to be listed as a historical monument.