Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of St. Nicholas-the-Thaumaturge originated in the exile of the white Russians after the October 1917 revolution. Boulogne-Billancourt, nicknamed "Billankourk" because of their strong presence, welcomed thousands of refugees, from nobles to workers working at Renault. The parish was founded by Metropolitan Euloge, with first celebrations in the back room of a restaurant.

In 1927, the Russian community, with 4,000 members, financed the construction of the church, consecrated in 1930. Destroyed in 1943 by an American bombardment against Renault factories, it was rebuilt in 1953 according to the plans of architect Kirkwood, maintaining its Russian Orthodox style, with a blue dome and a unique nave.

Iconostasis, the central element of the church, was made by Valentin Zvetchinsky. The building, located in a backyard, symbolizes the spiritual and cultural heritage of Russian exiles in France. Today it depends on the vicariate Sainte-Marie-de-Paris, linked to the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople.

The church remains an architectural and historical testimony of Russian immigration of the twentieth century, mixing Orthodox tradition and integration into the urban landscape of Boulogne-Billancourt. Its address, 132 bis rue du Point-du-Jour, makes it a place of memory accessible to the public.

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