Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix
Church
Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix, located in Étrembières (Département 74), is a modern edifice built in the 19th-20th centuries. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Modern (19th-20th century)
- Location
- Étrembières, Département 74, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 46.1630, 6.1844
- Mérimée Reference
- PA74000040
At the gateway to Switzerland, facing the Salève, Maurice Novarina's Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix church embodies the revival of French sacred art in the 1960s, just a stone's throw from the Étrembières cable car.
History
At Pas de l'Échelle, in the border hamlet of Étrembières nestling between the Autoroute Blanche and the Swiss border, the church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix stands out as an exceptional example of twentieth-century religious architecture. Designed by the great Haute-Savoie architect Maurice Novarina, it belongs to that generation of sacred buildings which, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, sought to reconcile formal modernity with spiritual elevation. What makes this monument truly singular is its unusual geographical location: the church stands facing the imposing limestone face of the Salève, whose silhouette dominates the landscape from Savoie to Geneva. The street that runs alongside the building marks the Franco-Swiss border itself, making Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix a building that literally straddles two nations, just a few hundred metres from the customs post. Its name - "de la Paix" - has a very special meaning in this cross-border context. The experience of visiting the church is one of generous architecture, conceived at a human level and characteristic of the Novarina vocabulary: uncluttered volumes, carefully worked lighting, an interior space designed to welcome and bring together a new parish community, born of the development of this rural hamlet that became a suburban area in the second half of the century. Although no longer a sacred building today, the church retains all the power of an accomplished work of architecture. The surrounding area makes for an unforgettable visit: the Salève cable car, with its lower station just a stone's throw away, the view of the peaks of the Geneva Jura, and the special atmosphere of a border area where France and Switzerland unceremoniously rub shoulders. If you're a lover of twentieth-century architecture, Alpine landscapes or simply places steeped in a discreet but dense history, this is a destination that's off the beaten track.
Architecture
Maurice Novarina's Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix follows in the footsteps of his sacred work: an architecture of clarity, where sober geometry serves spirituality without ostentation. The building adopts the codes of French religious modernism of the 1960s, favouring straightforward geometric volumes - parallelepipeds, steeply pitched or barrel-shaped roofs - and a controlled dialogue between the built mass and natural light. The walls, probably in rendered concrete or local rubble, help to integrate the building into the Alpine landscape, while the roof, with its characteristic Novarina shapes, gives the building an immediately recognisable silhouette in the border landscape. The interior, designed to meet the requirements of the Reformed liturgy, organises the space so as to bring the faithful and the celebrant closer together around the altar, in accordance with the recommendations of the pre-conciliar liturgical movement and the decrees of the Second Vatican Council. The treatment of light - through lateral openings, stained glass windows or zenithal daylight, depending on the solutions chosen - is at the heart of the Novari spatial dramaturgy, creating a contemplative atmosphere in which the material is forgotten in favour of the luminous presence. The position of the church, on the edge of the road that acts as the Franco-Swiss border and facing the Salève, gives the building an almost symbolic dimension: its orientation and facades are in constant dialogue with the limestone massif that rises up in the background, setting the architecture in a grandiose geography that amplifies its spiritual significance.
Related Figures
Maurice Novarina (1907-2002) — architecte haut-savoyard concepteur de l'église, figure majeure de l'architecture religieuse moderne françaiseFerdinand Léger, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse — artistes ayant collaboré avec Novarina sur d'autres édifices sacrés, témoins du réseau artistique dans lequel s'inscrit son œuvreLes pionniers du mouvement liturgique français — dont les réflexions ont guidé la conception des églises de l'après-guerre, influençant directement le programme architectural de Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix located?
Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix is located in Étrembières, Département 74 department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, France.
When was Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix built?
Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Is Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix open to visitors?
Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix is currently closed to visitors.