Église Notre-Dame du Raincy - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Church of Notre Dame du Raincy is a modern church built in 1921-22 by the French architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

s Auguste Perret

Auguste Perret

Auguste Perret was a French architect and a world leader and specialist in reinforced concrete construction. In 2005 his post-WWII reconstruction of Le Havre was declared by UNESCO one of the World Heritage Sites....

and Gustave Perret in the commune of Le Raincy

Le Raincy

Le Raincy is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Le Raincy is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-Saint-Denis department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Le Raincy....

near Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. It is considered a monument of modernism

Modernism

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

in architecture, using reinforced concrete in a manner that expresses the possibilities of the new material.

Design and construction

At the beginning of the twentieth century Le Raincy was a small parish church for suburbs whose population was rapidly growing.
In 1918 the abbot of Le Raincy, Felix Nègre, proposed in 1918 to build a church to commemorate the French victory in the Battle of the Marne

Battle of the Marne

There were two Battles of the Marne, taking place near the Marne River in Marne, France during World War I:* First Battle of the Marne * Second Battle of the Marne...

in 1914. Through connections among parishioners, Nègre came into contact with the Perrets. The design used concrete for economy. Rather than attempting to simulate masonry, the new material was used on its own terms, with standardized elements, slender supports, and thin membranes pierced by windows.

The completed church received widespread favorable attention, influencing architectural thought at a time of rebuilding and economic recovery.

Glass

The magnificent stained glass

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

was created by Marguerite Huré

Marguerite Huré

Marguerite Huré was a French stained glass artist. She is considered to be the artist who introduced abstraction into French religious glassmaking.Huré first studied with glass artist Émile Ader before founding her own atelier in 1920...

using colored coatings on clear glass for economy. The colors are dominated by blues near the entry and progress to warmer tones in the sanctuary.

Organ

The 1875 John Abbey organ

Pipe organ

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

belonging to the original parish church was moved to the new church. Changes made in 1957 changed its character. Public donations are now being sought for a new organ.

Restoration

At the time of the church's construction, concrete was still an experimental material. Deterioration was noted by the 1960s, and studies showed that the original concrete contained an excess of lime and water. Coverage of the steel reinforcing was also deficient. Restoration work has proceeded, with particular attention to the tower, using more modern materials and techniques.

Copies

In 1937, at the Tokyo Woman's Christian University, a chapel was built that was similar to Notre-Dame du Raincy. It is around half the size. The copy by architect Antonín Raymond

Antonin Raymond

Antonin Raymond, or , born: was a Czech architect, who lived and worked in the USA and Japan...

was unauthorised. Christine Vendredi-Auzanneau argues that

"Reimann knew about Notre Dame du Raincy".

The Czech architect, Bedřich Feuerstein came to Tokyo in 1926 and worked with Reimann between 1926 and 1931, after working a year in France with the Perret brothers.

The Raincy church also led to other insiprations in Japan.

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