Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of the Holy Spirit was born of an urgent need at the beginning of the 20th century: the influx of 4,000 inhabitants to Viry-Châtillon between 1920 and 1930 made the old church of Saint Denis insufficient. In 1935, the work of a temporary chapel began, but revealed an old Seine bed, requiring six months of pumping and exhausting the funds. The lower chapel, in a red mill and briquette, was blessed in 1936 by Monsignor Roland-Gosselin, bishop of Versailles, serving as a temporary place of worship.

The Second World War and financial difficulties interrupted the project until 1961. The architect Anton Korady then resumes the construction by merging old and modern: the stone and brick base supports a concrete and laminated-paste wood structure, inspired by the style of Le Corbusier. The re-use of the mill unifies both periods. The church was finally inaugurated on April 4, 1964, marking the culmination of nearly three decades of effort.

The building is distinguished by its concrete triangular bell tower (30 m) and its 33 steps staircase, evoking Lourdes. Inside, the cross nave houses translucent glass-wool windows, oak benches, and a copper and wood cross path. The tympanum, carved by Maurice Calka, represents the Holy Face framed by the symbols of the four Evangelists. The church thus embodies a synthesis between tradition and architectural modernity.

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