Church of Saint Michael dans le Doubs

Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church Saint-Michel des Bréseux, located in the Doubs department in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, is built in 1614 under the name of Saint-Michel. Originally a chapel attached to the parish of Maîche, it became an independent parish church in 1803. Its architecture is distinguished by a long rectangular nave of a narrow choir, topped by a dome-to-imperial bell tower, characteristic of the region. The building is covered with lauze, traditional flat stones.

In 1812, the building received a bell tower that marked its evolution towards church status. But it was in the 20th century that she acquired an exceptional artistic reputation: between 1948 and 1950, the parish priest Alphonse How to order the painter Alfred Manessier a series of non-figurative stained glass windows, made in collaboration with master glassmaker François Lorin. These works, including Paysage bleu (1948) and Paysage gilded, break with Saint Sulpician traditions and use pure glasses without grey, an innovative technique for the time.

Manessier's stained glass windows — ten in total — transform the church into a pioneer example of modern sacred art. The Virgin, Holy Agathe (1949), then Baptism and Penance (1950) complete the whole, while the Rosace completes this aesthetic metamorphosis. Their pose marks a turning point in the history of religious stained glass in France and in French-speaking Switzerland, inspiring other similar orders. The church, classified as a historical monument in 2023, also houses a classified painting of the Virgin to the Child between Saint Thiébaud and Saint Odile.

The initiative comes from Canon Lucien Ledeur, chairman of the sacred art commission of the diocese of Besançon, who convinces the parish priest How to modernize the building. Manessier, then 40 years old and figure of the new school in Paris, realized his first order of stained glass, marking the beginning of a prolific career in this field. The fittings are entrusted to a local marshal-ferrant, Mr Sandoz, illustrating the artisanal anchoring of the project.

Filed entirely by decree of 8 June 2023 (replacing an inscription of 2021), the Saint-Michel church is today a unique testimony of the encounter between rural heritage and artistic avant-garde. Its furniture, architecture and stained glass make it a major site for the history of 20th century sacred art in Franche-Comté.

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