The Church of Our Lady of Victory (french: église Notre-Dame-de-Victoire) is a Roman Catholic

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in central

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

, France. It is the most important parish in the Lorient Country.

History

The building was completed in 1955, after the 1943 bombings that destroyed the 1810 Church of Saint Louis. The name of the church (Our Lady of Victory) refers to the 1746 British

raid on Lorient The raid on Lorient was a British amphibious operation in the region around the town of Lorient from 29 September to 10 October 1746 during the War of the Austrian Succession. It was planned as an attempt to force the French to withdraw their forc ...

. The church was initially designed in 1953 by Jean-Baptiste Hourlier, who had won the 1926

Grand Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

and served as the deputy chief architect of the reconstruction of Lorient between 1946 and 1952. The church was labelled an official "20th-century heritage" building (').

Architecture

The 54-meter-high concrete bell tower is the highest point of Lorient. Its top is reached by a staircase of 270 steps. Inside the apse, a fresco made by

Nicolas Untersteller Nicolas Untersteller (1900–1967) was a French painter. Early life He was born in Stiring-Wendel, Lorraine, during the first German annexation. After studies at the School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg from 1921 to 1923, he joined the Eco ...

shows the

Coronation of Mary The Coronation of the Virgin or Coronation of Mary is a subject in Christian art, especially popular in Italy in the 13th to 15th centuries, but continuing in popularity until the 18th century and beyond. Christ, sometimes accompanied by God th ...

. The statues of the church were made by .

History

Architecture

References

Further reading