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Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Saint-Nicolas de Bapaume, located in Pas-de-Calais, has its origins in the middle of the sixteenth century. Built on the ruins of an earlier church, it already had a structure similar to that of today, with a tower tower imposing on the north side. Historical documents show an elongated building with a five-span nave, an asymmetric transept and a polygonal choir.

During the First World War, Bapaume was a major strategic issue, successively occupied by the Germans (from September 1914), the British (March 1917), then again by the Germans (March 1918) before being liberated by the New Zealanders in August 1918. Repeated fighting and bombing reduced the church to a state of ruins, leaving only its foundations.

The reconstruction of the building began in 1924 under the direction of architect Eugene Bidard, ending in 1929. True to the original plan, the new church preserved the medieval foundations, reproducing the five-span nave, the south transept, the north bell tower and the polygonal bedside. This project marked the revival of the local religious heritage after the destruction of the war.

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