Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Saint-Éloi de Rouen, located in Place du Pasteur-Martin-Luther-King, has its origins in the Middle Ages. Originally a chapel on an island, it becomes parish with the urbanization of the neighborhood. A first church was built in 1228, depending on the chapter of Notre-Dame de Rouen Cathedral. It was rebuilt at the beginning of the 16th century, then looted by the Huguenots in 1563. In 1580, the building was completed with the addition of a tower and a rose on the gate.

During the French Revolution, the church was expropriated in 1791 and turned into a feed shop and then a lead factory. After the Declaration of Human Rights (1789), Protestants obtained freedom of worship. In 1803, Napoleon I assigned the building to the Reformed Consistory of the Seine-Inferior, marking his conversion into a Protestant temple. The church was listed as a historic monument in 1911.

The temple suffered damage during the 1944 bombings and reopened to worship in 1950. In 2018-2019, excavations reveal a medieval cemetery nearby, attesting to an intense use of the funerary space. The podium organ is classified as a historical monument, highlighting the heritage richness of the site.

The architecture of the building, with a basilical plan without transept, underwent interior modernizations in the 18th century. In the 19th century, stained glass windows were removed and the bay was blocked, decorated with a painted Glory. The adjacent stalls were destroyed in 1857, releasing space around the temple.

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