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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Church of the Sacred Heart of Gentilly, located Avenue Paul-Vaillant-Couturier, was built between 1933 and 1936 thanks to the initiative of Abbé Robert Picard de La Vacquerie, then chaplain of the foreign Catholic students. Financed by industrialist Pierre Lebaudy (then his widow after his death in 1929), it was designed by architects Pierre Paquet and his son Jean-Pierre Paquet. Its style combines neo-Roman and neo-Byzantine influences, with a reinforced concrete structure and limestone plates from Saint-Maximin. Consecrated in 1936 by Cardinal Verdier, it was dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The church was erected outside the International University City of Paris, whose founders refused any place of worship in their domain. Close to the ring road and the A6 motorway, its 62-metre bell tower makes it a visible landmark of the Parisian landscape. Served by the RER B (station Gentilly), it initially housed a chapel for students, but the construction of the ring road in 1960 was isolated. Since 1979, it has been dedicated to the Portuguese Catholic community.

The monument is distinguished by its rich decor, the work of renowned artists: the sculptor Georges Saupique (tympanum, angels of the bell tower), the master glassmaker Jacques Grüber (17 abstract glass windows, 1935) and the painter Ángel Zárraga (monumental frescoes and path of the Cross, around 1936-1938). An altar cross of Émile Guillaume (1936) completes his furniture. In 2025, the Cardinal's Buildings financed the renovation of the Way of the Cross for 40,000 euros.

Inscribed in historical monuments since 9 June 2000, the church illustrates 20th century religious architecture, combining modernity (armed concrete) and tradition (Romanesque inspiration). Its dome and bell tower, 62 meters high, dominate the urban landscape. The building, made of a Latin cross with a single ship, is covered with lead and decorated with sculptures and stained-glass windows symbolizing its spiritual and artistic role.

Originally linked to the student life of the University City, the church lost this vocation after 1968, due to its isolation caused by the peripheral. Today, it remains a testimony of Gentilly's religious and architectural history, as well as a place of worship for the Portuguese community. Its decorative set, classified, makes it a jewel of the Franciscan heritage.

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