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Origin and history

The Saint-Charles-Borromée church of Marnaval, located in the steel district of Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne), is an atypical building built of slag bricks, a material derived from the waste from the blast furnaces of the nearby factory. Built between May 1894 and May 1895 on the plans of engineer Charles Albert de Vathaire and Abbé Nalot, it responded to a pressing demand from the workers: to have a nearby place of worship, after the deadly explosion of a boiler in 1883 (30 dead). The factory, led by Émile Giros, financed the project on land purchased from the municipality in 1892, including schools and a cemetery.

The construction was entrusted to Ratinet, with a first stone laid on 4 May 1894 and a solemn blessing on 30 May 1895, shortly after the death of Émile Giros. Owned by the factory until 1991, the church was ceded to the city under pressure from the inhabitants. Its architecture combines Romanesque style (façade with two truncated towers, concrete porch) and industrial symbols, such as the rosace with gear and tool patterns. The stained glass windows, offered by metallurgist families, celebrate Saint Charles, Saint Emile, and the Sacred Heart.

The district of Marnaval, which was born out of steel industry in 1603, experienced a major boom under Émile Giros (administrator from 1874 on), which developed a pioneering social policy: housing, schools, emergency funds, and even a band. The church, the spiritual heart of this working-class city, was designed to unite a community of 1,305 inhabitants in 1889, including 800 workers. The adjacent cemetery, inaugurated in the same year, houses the tomb of Giros, surrounded by his employees as he had wished. Ranked a historical monument in 2025 (after an inscription in 2022), it embodies the alliance between industry, faith and social progress.

Inside, the 47-metre-long nave, illuminated by stained glass windows with arms from the Becquey family (former forge masters), and the four slag concrete vault keys highlight technical innovation. The molten statues of the Sacred Heart and the Virgin, transferred from the chapel of Pont de la Grotte, recall the modest origins of local worship. Despite a plan of destruction in 1991, supported by the bishop of Langres, the mobilization of the Marnavalese saved the building, today a rare witness to religious industrial architecture.

The choice of materials — bricks and slag concrete — makes Saint-Charles a unique work in France, linked to the circular economy before the hour. The rosace of the transept, adorned with workers' symbols (tones, chains), and the three bells melted in 1912 at Robecourt, finished sealing his identity. The newspaper LaUnivers (1895) saw it as a bulwark against socialism, praising a "honest and vigorous" population led by Christians concerned about its well-being.

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