Église Notre-Dame de Royan

A big surprise inside. We saw the rather stark looking building from the town but didn't go to it. Thst evening I was reading about the architecture and saw some photos from the interior so went back to see inside the following day. It's an amazing construction built completely from poured concrete. The unusual angles allow the coloired light panels to create some amazing affects. There are often musical events held there which I think would be fantastic to attend.

One of many examples of Royan's post war architecture, and definitely one that sticks out!

The church is rebuild in the 50s, in 'fast' concrete, after most of the town was bombarded in january 1945. Architect Guillaume Gillet was in charge. He used V-shapes (by ingenieur Lafaille) for the main structure - emphasizing Victory.

From the outside it may appear like a brute beast, but once inside the elegance becomes visible in smart geometric shapes, curved lines and a beautiful light play. At night the church is lit up in different colours, to highlight Royan's unique skyline.

Worth a visit! ✌🏼

Unbelievable structure concrete at it’s best
Never seen a church this Raw amazing
To bad you can’t go up to the highest level but understandable.
The outside needs some concrete repairs to bring it back in the state it should be

Loved this place. Straight out of lord of the rings and worth seeing in person.

Spectacular cathedral which dominates the city skyline

A place to be silent, remembring a tragedy at the very end of WW2. In 3 years' time this great modern church was built to give back hope.

The outside is not very attractive. But once you go inside and contemplate around you, you then realize what a magnificent structure this is. But wait you've gotta hear the pipe organs because the acoustics were simply breathtaking. The organ player put on a show right towards the end of Sunday mass and received several rounds of applause. Sadly the cathedral was half empty.

If you like modern architecture, give this a look. From the outside, it looks like a sad old concrete grain silo, but the space and light inside are absolutely extraordinary. Take your time to look at the details all around.

If you don't care for modern architecture, you can safely give this a miss.

Beautiful.

Astonishing. Inside especially. My mothers local cathedral. I shed a tear.

From the outside it's cold and modern but inside it really is surprising. I'm not a great photographer, but if you are in the area add it to your must see list.

Made from simple concrete, but simply fabulous.

Beautiful architecture, a must visit if you are in Royan.

Grat architecture

A very interesting and lovely building

Absolutely stunning building especially the interior. Well worth an hour of anyone's schedule.

A really nice piece of modern brutalist architecture that creates beautiful spaces on the interior!

Brutalist Catholic modern architecture with interesting features and interesting history of the construction and subsequent problems with the concrete and the solutions

Utterly stunning Church.

Beautiful concrete architecture