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Origin and history

The Protestant temple of La Rochelle finds its origins in the turbulent history of the Reformation in France. As early as 1546 La Rochelle, then great maritime power, adopted Protestantism massively. In 1561, the Reformed opened their first public hall of worship on Rue Saint-Michel, making the city a Protestant stronghold during the Wars of Religion. After the siege of 1628 and the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, the Protestants lost their places of worship, and their last temple, Saint Eloy, was demolished. Many exile, drastically reducing the local Huguenot community.

In 1691, the Recollet Minor Brothers transformed the old Protestant place of worship into a Catholic church, adding a typical facade of the Counter-Reform, decorated with palms and niches. The building, burned in 1705, was rebuilt and became a symbol of the Catholic reconquest. However, after the Revolution, in 1798, Protestant families bought the church, then a national one, to make it their temple. They retained the 17th century façade but completely remodelled the interior, removing the lateral chapels in 1862 and installing an organ in 1887.

The temple also houses a Protestant museum since 1931, retracing the local history of the Reformation. In 1995, it was given to the city of La Rochelle, with the obligation to maintain its Protestant cultural use. His organ, built by Joseph Merklin in 1897 and restored in 2015, as well as his pulpit of 1836, testify to the successive transformations of the place. The façade and cloister, classified as historical monuments in 1924, recall its dual Catholic and Protestant heritage.

The site is also linked to the history of the White Ladies, a Catholic congregation that occupied part of the buildings from 1810. Their chapel, built in 1878, coexisted with the temple, illustrating the religious diversity of La Rochelle. Today, the temple remains an active place of Protestant worship, while being a protected historical heritage, symbol of tensions and exchanges between confessions throughout the centuries.

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