Église Notre-Dame de Royan — Attraction in Rochefort

One of many examples of Royan's post war architecture, and definitely one that sticks out!

The church is rebuild in the 50s, in 'fast' concrete, after most of the town was bombarded in january 1945. Architect Guillaume Gillet was in charge. He used V-shapes (by ingenieur Lafaille) for the main structure - emphasizing Victory.

From the outside it may appear like a brute beast, but once inside the elegance becomes visible in smart geometric shapes, curved lines and a beautiful light play. At night the church is lit up in different colours, to highlight Royan's unique skyline.

Worth...

Stunning brutalist church overflowing with character and style. It is hard to really describe how imposing and impressive it is to see a tall concrete structure like this. Really dominates the attention. The inside reveals an almost unreal mix of the stark concrete and and fine details, the way they worked in the windows and stained glass makes it pop and also fit in with the bland gray. Europe is full of impressive churches and cathedrals but this one stands...

A big surprise inside. We saw the rather stark looking building from the town but didn't go to it. Thst evening I was reading about the architecture and saw some photos from the interior so went back to see inside the following day. It's an amazing construction built completely from poured concrete. The unusual angles allow the coloired light panels to create some amazing affects. There are often musical events held there which I think would be...