Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The cinema-theatre La Renaissance, located in the 5 place de la Victoire in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, was inaugurated on March 22, 1930. Originally dedicated to live shows and cinematographic screenings, he devoted himself exclusively to cinema from the 1970s before closing permanently in 2001. Its architecture, inspired by the Renaissance style with Art Nouveau influences, is distinguished by a concrete and iron facade, doric pilasters and wrought metal galleries, designed according to certain sources by Henri Gabriel, drawing teacher at the Lycée Carnot.

In 2009, the building's façade, roof and metal galleries were listed as historical monuments. Despite rehabilitation projects started in 2010 (for a total cost of €1.15 million between acquisition and studies), no lasting solution is found. A fire ravages inside the cinema on January 25, 2020, accelerating its degradation. The municipal council voted for its demolition in May 2021, while imposing the identical reconstruction of the façade, classified. The destruction began in January 2021, and in July 2022 nothing remains of the original building.

The building, built in the geometrizing current of mid-war cinemas, combined an iron frame and a concrete fill. Its side galleries, originally intended for emergency traffic and exits, were decorated with claustras and wrought iron gallows. These elements, typical of the adaptation of classical codes (symmetry, entably) to the modernism of the time, made it a remarkable example of the Guadeloupe architectural heritage. The facade, the only protected part, today symbolizes the memory of this major cultural place, integrated into an aborted urban renewal project.

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