Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The parish church of St.Lawrence, located in the Lambézellec district of Brest (Finistère), finds its origins in the sixteenth century under the patronage of Saint Florent, later replaced by Saint Laurent. In 1750, a first church was built, housing wooden statuettes depicting scenes of the Nativity and Adoration of the Magi, inspired by the local costumes of the Restoration. This damaged building was demolished around 1854 to give way to the present church, designed by architect Joseph Bigot in a neo-Gothic style and completed in 1865. At that time Lambézellec was still an independent commune, before joining Brest in 1945.

The church is distinguished by its polylithic construction, using various materials: granite of the Aber-Ildut for cut stones, keranton for ornaments, granite quimperois for the arrow, slates of Châteaulin for the roof, and rubble in local gneiss. Its bell tower, destroyed by an American shell in 1944 during the Battle of Brest, was rebuilt between 1951 and 1952 and restored in 2009. The stained glass windows, originally envisaged with Max Ingrand, were finally made by André Bouler, an artist Jesuit, between 1959 and the 1960s, in a modern non-figurative style.

The Second World War marked a turning point for the building. During the 1944 bombings, Brest and its churches, including St. Lawrence, suffered extensive damage. The reconstruction, led by the Société Coopérative de Reconstruction Immobilière des Édifices Religiouses du Finistère under the aegis of the Ministry of Reconstruction, ran from 1948 to 1952. During the works, the offices are celebrated in a nearby "house church". The canon Chapalain, parish priest since 1932, wishes a reconstruction identically, but his successor, Abbé Sergent, opts for modern stained glass windows after his meeting with André Bouler, former student of the Collège Sainte-Croix de Quimperlé.

André Bouler's stained glass windows, executed by the artisans Jacques and Mireille Juteau, revolve around two themes: the hagiography of Saint Laurent and the illumination of the church by light. Red, symbol of the martyrdom of the saint and divine love, dominates, accompanied by blue. Of the sixty-two windows planned, thirteen remain without windows to date. Max Ingrand's initial project, an artist renowned for his work at Notre-Dame de Paris or at Strasbourg Cathedral, was abandoned after the death of Canon Chaplain in 1956 and the arrival of Abbé Sergent.

The Saint-Laurent church thus embodies a synthesis between historical heritage, post-conflict reconstruction and artistic innovation. Its neo-gothic architecture, local materials and contemporary stained glass windows make it a unique testimony to the religious and cultural history of Brest and its region.

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