Paul Louis Denis Bellot (7 June 1876 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

– 5 July 1944 in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

) was a French

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

and modern

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Biography

He became an architect in 1900 having studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1902 he became a monk of the Benedictines of Solesmes. These monks were in exile in England, and Bellot began building

Quarr Abbey Quarr Abbey (French: ''Abbaye Notre-Dame de Quarr'') is a monastery between the villages of Binstead and Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The name is pronounced as "Kwor" (rhyming with "for"). It belongs to the Catholi ...

on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

. In the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Bellot designed St. Paul's Abbey, Oosterhout, for the Order. He designed several churches in the Netherlands,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Most of these are built largely of concrete or brick which were his preferred materials. Bellot was a member of

L'Arche L'Arche is an international federation of non-profits working to create networks of community where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together. Founded in 1964 by Jean Vanier, Raphaël Simi, and Philip Seux, L'Ar ...

, an organisation whose goal it was to use modern materials and art for religious purposes. In

, where he moved in 1937, he influenced several architects (i.e. Dom Claude-Marie Côté, also a Benedictine monk, and

Adrien Dufresne Adrien Dufresne (1904-1983) was a Canadian architect from Beauport, Quebec. He is primarily known for his impact on religious architecture in Canada during the 20th Century. Biography Adrien Dufresne studied at the École des beaux-arts de Mon ...

, a layperson) and his architectural influence became known as "Bellotism". His ideas are expounded in ''Propos d'un bâtisseur du Bon Dieu'' which was published posthumously in 1949; it is based on lectures he gave in Canada in 1934.Willis, Peter (1996) ''Dom Paul Bellot, architect and monk, and the publication of "Propos d'un bâtisseur du Bon Dieu" 1949.'' Newcastle upon Tyne: Elysium Press

Chief works

* St. Paul's Abbey, Oosterhout, the Netherlands, 1906–1907 *

, Isle of Wight, 1907–1911 * At Comines, the church of Saint Chrysolus was built from 1925 to 1929 in collaboration with Maurice Storez. * At

Audincourt Audincourt () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. History Audincourt belonged to the County of Montbéliard which became part of France in 1793, during the French Revolutionary Wars. ...

, the church of Notre-Dame de l'Immaculée Conception, 1932, was an early building in reinforced concrete. * At

Solesmes Abbey Solesmes Abbey or St. Peter's Abbey, Solesmes (''Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes'') is a Benedictine monastery in Solesmes (Sarthe, France), famous as the source of the restoration of Benedictine monastic life in the country under Dom Prosper Gu� ...

, the new library, the gallery of the great cloister and the ''lavatorium'' * The chapel of the seminary of Saint Louis, on the domain of Saint Hubert,

Neuvy-sur-Barangeon Neuvy-sur-Barangeon () is a commune in the Cher department in central France. Population See also *Château du Grand Chavanon *Communes of the Cher department The following is a list of the 287 communes of the Cher department of France. Th ...

, Cher, 1936 * At

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,145 as of 2016. The nearest communes are Nanterre, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud an ...

in the garden city, the church of Notre-Dame de la Paix was dedicated in 1936. * Basilica of Saint-Joseph-des-Fins at

Annecy Annecy ( , ; frp, Èneci or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed ...

* The Priory of Saint Bathilda at

Vanves Vanves () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe and the tenth in France History On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris w ...

, between 1934 and 1936 * The

Château du Grand Chavanon The Château du Grand Chavanon, also known as the Château de Saint-Hubert, is a historic château in Neuvy-sur-Barangeon, Cher, France. History The chateau was built for the Marquess of Borzas from 1893 to 1897. It was designed by architect Alb ...

, between 1935 and 1937. * The church Nossa Senhora da Conceição in

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, Portugal, 1939–1947 * In Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, the Saint Benedict Abbey * In

the completion of the dome and exterior of the basilica of

Saint Joseph's Oratory Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal (french: Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal) is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and national shrine located at 3800 Queen Mary Road in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood on Mount Royal's Westmount Summit in ...

Filmography

* François Brault and Guy L. Coté made a film about Dom Bellot at Quebec in 1987: ''Dom Bellot, architecte, 1876–1943''.

References

External links

Dom Bellot, monk and architectBellotism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellot, Paul 1876 births 1944 deaths 20th-century French architects Benedictine monks French ecclesiastical architects Architects from Paris