Église Saint-Pierre

English translation

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History

Attached to the large complex of Dufau-Tourasse designed by André Remondet north of Pau from the end of the 1950s, the church of Saint-Pierre is built in 1969 and 1970.

Description

Of circular form seen from the sky, it is completed by an annex housing its presbytery and a chaplaincy. This extension widening as it goes gives the whole, seen from above, the form of a lock. Seen from the street, the church is structured by a framework of twelve concrete pillars (referring to the twelve Apostles of Christ) and rises while widening before narrowing at the level of its roof, which gives it the form of a volcanic crater or flying saucer which denotes Brazilian influence (cathedral Notre-Dame of the Apparition of Brasília, by Oscar Niemeyer). Inside, its nave still presents a circular form dominated by a gallery, the whole providing perfect visibility of an open chevet according to the precepts of Vatican II. A band of stained glass, created by a parishioner, runs around the building with figurative elements referring to the iconography of Saint Peter.