The Église Saint-Pothin (English: Church of

Saint Pothinus Saint Pothinus (french: Saint Pothin) was the first bishop of Lyon and the first bishop of Gaul. He is first mentioned in a letter attributed to Irenaeus of Lyon. The letter was sent from the Christian communities of Lyon and Vienne to the Roman ...

) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

located in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

sits on the left bank of the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

, in the

6th arrondissement of Lyon 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, at the Place Edgar Quinet. By order of 2 May 2007, the whole church was included in the supplementary inventory of

monuments historiques ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

History

The creation of the parish of St. Pothin and the construction of the church became part of the urban development of Les Brotteaux district from the late 18th century. The progressive urbanization of the area followed a plan made by Jean-Antoine Morand (1727-1794), an architect in Lyon, and Saint-Pothin was one of the structural elements of the new plan. A chapel was opened in 1818, but Les Brotteaux district decided to create a branch of La Guillotière district placed under the patronage of St. Pothin, due to pressure from the notables and responding to the special concern of the

Archbishop of Lyon The Archdiocese of Lyon (Latin: ''Archidiœcesis Lugdunensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Lyon''), formerly the Archdiocese of Lyon–Vienne–Embrun, is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The Archbishops o ...

. The royal ordinance of 21 June 1826 allowed this project to be materialized, thus facilitating the project of church construction and financing. The parish boundaries were established in 1827, however. Canuts smashed the doors of the old church in 1831. In 1835, the Hospices Civils de Lyon made a gift of land and a contest was organized by the city fathers of La Guillotière. Christophe Crépet (1807-1856), Lyon architect of La Guillotière and former student of the

École des Beaux-Arts de Paris The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école A ''grande école'' () is a specialised university that is separate from, but parallel and often connected to, the main framework of the French public university system. The grandes écoles ...

, was the winner. He proposed a neoclassical style, that was partially carried out from June 1841 to 1843 as the budget, largely undervalued, was tripled. For economic reasons, this led to an adjournment of the church decoration (many statues of saints were planned, but the project was finally abandoned) and the use of inferior materials, which begat architectural disorder. The church was opened on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

of 1843. Architect of Lyon city Tony Desjardins in 1867, then architect Claudius Porte in 1874 and 1876-1877, directed restoration campaigns.

Architecture

This church has a neoclassical style and looks like a Greek temple. It has a

Latin cross A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a mu ...

form, and its facade has a Doric portico, topped by a triangular

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

, and many Doric columns. Above the six columns of the facade, there are a frieze and a triangular pediment with a cross. In the interior, the fresco of the dome was done in 1893-1894 by Étienne Couvert (1856-1933) and depicts the Virgin and the twelve apostles, and there is a glass made by Lucien Bégule, representing the Holy Spirit as a

dove Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

. The stained glass windows were made by Lucien Bégule's son, Émile (1880-1972), showing the founders of the Church of Lyon (

St Irenaeus Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...

St Polycarp Polycarp (; el, Πολύκαρπος, ''Polýkarpos''; la, Polycarpus; AD 69 155) was a Christian bishop of Smyrna. According to the ''Martyrdom of Polycarp'', he died a martyr, bound and burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed ...

, St Blandina and St Pothinus) and that of France ( St Genevieve, St Clotilde).There is also a 1656 painting depicting

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

in front of the

Areopagus The Areopagus () is a prominent rock outcropping located northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Its English name is the Late Latin composite form of the Greek name Areios Pagos, translated "Hill of Ares" ( grc, Ἄρειος Πάγος) ...

, which was previously kept at Notre-Dame de Paris. The organ is placed in the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

and the nave is lined aisles. Adrien Rougier was the titular organist from 1945 to 1984.

Stained glass windows made by Bégule

File:Vitrail de St-Pothin par Bégule.jpg, St Pothin File:Vitrail de-Ste-Blandine par Bégule.jpg, St Blandina File:Vitrail de St-Irénée par Bégule.jpg, St Irenaeus File:Vitrail St-Polycarpe par Bégule.jpg, St Polycarp

References

External links

*
Official site of the organ of St. Pothin
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eglise Saint-Pothin 6th arrondissement of Lyon Roman Catholic churches in Lyon Monuments historiques of Lyon 1843 establishments in France Roman Catholic churches completed in 1843 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in France Neoclassical church buildings in France