the church of Sainte-Bernadette du Banlay, in Nevers

This singular construction is reminiscent of a blockhouse from the Second World War. It is however a place of worship, the church of Sainte-Bernadette du Banlay, in Nevers (Nièvre). Listed as a Historic Monument in 2000 and labeled “Heritage of the XXe century ”by the prefecture of Dijon in 2005, it was built in 1966.

One of the architectural treasures of Burgundy, as a recent article in the World, this church is the work of the meeting between the town planner Paul Virilio and the architect Claude Parent. The architectural scheme of the church revolves around the two inclined planes of the nave, which is sheltered by two concrete half-shells interlocking one into the other.

If the exterior of the building surprises by its hardness, the interior offers a great softness: under the light emanating from the vault, the curves dominate. Its designers wanted the church to be erected at a time marked by the trauma of World War II and the Cold War, ” this breastplate, a terrible place, whose threshold is difficult to cross, opens onto a protective interior space », To use the words of Claude Parent.