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Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Christ the King of Wattrelos was built to meet the spiritual needs of an expanding working-class neighborhood, the Green Rabbit, marked by spinning and factories. In the 1930s, the Delecourt family offered the land of their former brick factory, and the local architect Édouard Gontier was responsible for the project. Financed by private donations, the church was consecrated in 1936, without a bell tower but with an elongated nave, in accordance with the constraints of the time. His religious identity is affirmed by an imposing statue of the blessed Christ, the work of sculptor Georges Serraz, dominating the portal.

The facade of the church, made of bricks with a toothed gable, has bas-reliefs representing the Nativity and Ascension, as well as a Latin inscription Ego sum via veritas et vita (John XVI). Inside, the stained glass windows, organized in groups of three and decorated with golden diamond, culminate with a representation of Christ in contempt above the high altar. This place of worship, integrated into the diocese of Lille, also symbolizes the Catholic anchoring in a border region with Belgium, marked by its industrial history.

The building is part of an urban landscape typical of the Hauts-de-France, between religious heritage and working-class memory. Its location on the edge of a wooded mail, at the edge of the Mousserie district, reflects the balance between urban development and the preservation of green spaces. The church remains an architectural testimony of the 1930s, a period of social and religious transformations in the North of France.

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