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Origin and history

The church Saint-Léger de Lens, located on Berthelot Street, is the third building erected on this site. The first church, built in the 10th century under Eustache I, Count of Boulogne and Lens, was damaged during the Thirty Years War before collapsing in the late 17th century. A new Jesuit-style church was built by the Leclercq brothers of Aire-sur-la-Lys between 1776 and 1780, but suffered the vicissitudes of the Revolution: transformed into a temple of Reason (1793), then into a powder factory and forage store, it was not restored to worship until 1803.

During World War I, the church, requisitioned by the German army, was destroyed by shelling in 1916. Its reconstruction began in 1923, with a first stone laid in 1924 and an inauguration in 1926. The building, now made of reinforced concrete, preserved a style close to the old church, with a five-span nave, a hemicycle bedside and a front bell tower. The stained glass windows, including the one dedicated to Saint Léger, and the organs (completed in 1930) enriched his interior.

World War II again damaged the church, hit by a torpedo in 1940 and a bombardment in 1944, without total destruction. Major restorations took place in 1981 (dome) and 1996 (full renovation). Among its furniture, a 17th century statue of the Virgin Mary, classified as a historical monument in 1944, remains as the only vestige of the destroyed church. Today, it belongs to the parish of Saint-François-d-Assise de Lens and hosts Sunday Masses.

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