In 1944, most of historic Le Havre in the north of France was razed to the ground by Allied bombing. When the war ended, the French authorities decided to carry out an architectural experiment and rebuild the city in a modern style. The symbol of this controversial ‘rebuilding’ is the brutalist St Joseph’s Church, which resembles a lighthouse from the outside and conceals an interior straight out of a spaceship.
On the front
The development of coastal Le Havre was abruptly interrupted with the outbreak of the First World War, which slimmed the city’s population by more than 6,000 young men. The city’s buildings did not suffer, but after the end of the Great War, Le Havre’s problems began to grow. The plight of workers who could not find employment and the industrial crisis marked the entire interwar period in the city. The exception, however, was the operation of the port, which had been an important industry for centuries.
After the capitulation of France in 1940, the city fell into the hands of the Germans. They enclosed Le Havre with bunkers and other fortifications, and the city became an important preparation point for the attack on England. The repression typical of the German occupation of France began in the city, particularly severe for the Jewish population. However, German rule was not the worst thing that awaited the city.
In 1944, the Allies carried out bombing campaigns against Le Havre, which served as a fortress city. Particularly severe for the city’s buildings were the air raids of early September, which annihilated the architecture in the centre of Le Havre. The air raids killed 5,000 people and the explosions maimed tens of thousands more. 12,500 buildings were also demolished, particularly in the city centre. A few days after the most severe bombardment, Allied troops entered the ruins of the city.
Blocks for tenements
After the war, the city authorities decided to rebuild Le Havre, but in a modernist style. The possibility of using cheap prefabricated blocks and the many off-the-shelf ideas of modernist architects determined the choice of style. The destruction was so severe that a thorough reconstruction of the city was uneconomic. It is worth mentioning that the work on the new modernist Havre was carried out at a time when Polish architects (mainly Prof. Jan Zachwatowicz) were rebuilding historic Warsaw.
The new St Joseph’s Church was to be the symbol of the rebuilding and a monument to commemorate the fallen. The architect Auguste Perret, a former pupil of Le Corbusier, proposed a modernist shape for the new church. Perret was an atheist, so the sacred function of the building was secondary for him, and the church was to be first and foremost a ‘beacon for those travelling across the Atlantic’. This concept was juxtaposed with the vision of Raymond Audigier, who opted for a more sacred form of church. Audigier’s building was to be a thanksgiving to God for the end of the war.
Three years after construction began, Perret died, but his vision survived even Audiger’s rather contradictory plans. From a distance, the building resembles one of the wonders of the ancient world – the lighthouse on Faros. The huge tower rises to 107 metres and towers over the entire city. The church consists of two masses: a monumental tower on an octagon plan and a base on the plan of an outstretched Greek cross. The heavy concrete form of the tower has thousands of small openings important for illuminating the interior. The base, on the other hand, is devoid of spectacular decoration, with the only variety being openings in place of windows, pea grained walls and concrete cornices.
Spacecraft
The interior of the church transports worshippers to an alien reality. The ubiquitous concrete creates a mysterious and monumental structure. Inconspicuous openings allow light to shine through thousands of coloured glasses, making the grey space fill with colour. The decor is incredibly modest, but the form of the building makes up for these shortcomings. The most impressive part of the church is where the aisles intersect. In traditional churches, a dome would span over this spot, but in the modernist lighthouse you can admire the hollow tower suspended overhead. Interestingly, the huge structure has no discernible cantilevers and the weight has been distributed to reinforce the distant pillars. The hidden ties and cantilevers make St Joseph’s Church a marvel of engineering. Of course, this was all made possible by the use of reinforced concrete.
The previously mentioned coloured glass conceals the important story of the woman who resurrected the art of sacred ironwork. As early as the 1920s, Marguerite Huré was already creating artistic glass that abandoned figurative designs. Her abstraction conquered the French scene, and in the 1930s she developed her own technique of ‘blowing’ coloured glass into concrete. It was the ‘brique Huré’ technique that was used inside St Joseph’s Church. In total, there are as many as 12,768 in the building.
The arrangement of the coloured glass is not random. Each segment consists of up to six different colours, which create different lighting effects. The brightness of the colours is arranged so that the highest part of the tower is best illuminated. Interestingly, the individual glass levels allude to Christian virtues. In this futuristic tunnel, which looks like something out of a sci-fi film, the only breakout is the spiral staircase that runs to the top of the bell tower.
It is worth mentioning that the only more expensive material used in the construction is the granite lined under the altar, but its presence does not disturb the austere character of the interior. Moreover, the wooden benches with backrests and the dark metal chandeliers have been kept in a modest style. It should be noted, however, that in this austere modernity, a place has been found for the only surviving sculptures of the former church.
Phoenix
The construction of St Joseph’s Church in Le Havre was completed in 1957, and seven years later the Bishop of Rouen consecrated the altar. However, the consecration of the entire church had to wait, until 2017. Despite this, masses are regularly held in the church and the architecture of the building is admired by more than 100,000 tourists a year. What’s more, the rebuilt Le Havre with its impressive church was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2005. The church was singled out for its special architectural qualities along with the modernist town hall.
Le Havre’s twentieth-century history is a tale of hardship, destruction and courageous reconstruction. Almost nothing is left of the charming town in Normandy, but the new Le Havre also has its advantages. One of these advantages is the impressive modernist architecture, which is intriguing in its creativity. St Joseph’s Church, on the other hand, embodies the effort of post-war reconstruction, which has given the town a unique symbol.
Source: Le Havre Etretat Tourisme
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