Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Saint-Rémy-au-Velours de Laon, built between 1675 and 1677, replaces a medieval building of the 12th century deemed obsolete. Funded by the local bourgeoisie, including Pierre Gerbaut, seigneur of Boislscales, and the attorney of King Le Doulx, it costs 14,240 pounds. Its name evokes frequentation by "gown", i.e. magistrates and notables. Elements of the sixteenth century remain east side, revealed in later restorations.

Desacralized in 1790 during the Revolution, the church was sold to the city in 1791 and its bell tower was shot down in 1795. Transformed into a theatre, it hosted a theatre in Italian between 1804 and 1807, designed by the architect Carrier and decorated by Jean-François Troy. Damaged during the First World War, it was restored between 1919 and 1925 in a Louis XVI style, before closing in 1965.

Ranked a historic monument in 1975 for its facades and roofs, the church, then in interior ruins, was rehabilitated between 1976 and 1979. Since 1980, it has served as an annex to the City Hall of Laon, marking its transition from a religious place to a civic space. Its history reflects the political and cultural upheavals of France, from the Ancien Régime to the contemporary era.

The building is also mentioned in the literature: Champfleury places there a comic episode of the Sufferings of Professor Delteil (1853). Its architecture, blending limestone and dardian roofs, bears witness to the know-how of the seventeenth century, while its successive transformations make it a symbol of the reappropriation of heritage.

The architects and craftsmen who marked his history include Jean Marest (master mason), Armand Sentiez (sculptor), and Paul Marquiset (architect of the renovations of 1893). The restoration of the 1970s, led by Alain Gigot, saved the building, now communal property and place of memory for Laon.

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