Renovations to the Temple of Luxembourg, a member of the United Protestant Church of France, were completed and inaugurated on 3 December 2021. The church, established 165 years ago in 1857, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, now has a renovated chapel and new stained glass windows. The restoration commenced in 2018, mainly financed by parishioners.
Most of the renovations were made to modernise the interior. The chapel restoration was necessary to meet safety standards, especially in terms of the electricity, said Jean-Michel Ulmann, the Presbyterian councillor of the parish.
The Neo-Gothic building has an unembellished stone façade, but the plain white glass windows have been replaced with stained glass. The previous glass windows had holes and threatened to fall in the street below.
Marie-Amélie Tek was the architect in charge of the renovations. The three priorities were to stay true to the spirit of the place, to meet the technical challenge of modernisation, and to bring a dimension of joyful creativity to the design.
A master glassmaker (verrier) renovated the glass windows. There are no stained glass figures. Instead, there are a gradient of colours (joyful creativity), that represent the passage from shadows to light, said Jean-Michel. A craftsman installed a new ironwork staircase and the interior was painted. Several companies contributed to the restorations, including Top Elevation, Coriabois, Metafer, Kipa, Profil’Scene, Staff en Seine, Batidéco, France Vitrail, and Denys Audio. The 1892 organ, originally built by the abbey brothers, was restored on site by Yves Fossaert.
When the temple was built in the second empire, the government did not recognize it as a church, said Jean-Michel Ulmann. Its history began in one room in a building in the 11tharrondissement (district), where disadvantaged families could seek shelter. Around 1855, when the French Protestant movement was growing, the room couldn’t accommodate everyone, so the construction of the Temple of Luxembourg began – as a school – on the current plot of land in the 6th arrondissement. The temple is still open to people of all faiths and none.
Architect Alexandre-Joseph de Valcourt (circa 1795-1879) designed the original school and chapel, which was inaugurated on 11 April 1857. Another structure was built in 1875 on the back part of the land. The school was closed in 1909 and the interior of the building changed over the years. The two buildings were joined to form one building in the 1970s.
The chapel is on the first and second floors of the five-floor building. Under the chapel, in the basement, are meeting rooms and a library. Above the chapel are apartments for the pastor and secretariat, as well as a kitchen. About 15 people live on site, including some students who pay a moderate rate to rent a room.
MARTINA NICOLLS
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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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