Church of Chêne-Pâquier

Church of Chêne-Pâquier

The Church of Chêne-Pâquier is the oldest Oval Church of Switzerland . It was built in 1667 by the Bernese architect Abraham Dünz as a reformed church and restored in 1903 and between 1963 and 1973. Chêne-Pâquier has been part of the Yverdon-les-Bains district in the canton of Vaud since 1798 . The 100 souls community consists of the hamlets of Le Chêne and Le Pâquier. It belonged to the lordship of Saint-Martin-du-Chêne.

The sober building has a square roof turret above the gable roof . The renaissance facade is decorated with tracery windows and a stone portal. Above the portal an inscription reminds that the church replaced the old parish church of St-Martin-du-Chene, which became a parish church as early as 1228. Below is the date 1667 and the initials "DP", the stonemason Daniel Potterat from Chavannes-le-Chêne . The undivided interior is covered by a beamed ceiling supported by four supports.

The floor plan is based on the famous "Temple du Paradis" in Lyon , the oldest Huguenot building of which one has a picture. The temple, built in 1564, represents the first stage in the development of an architectural solution for Protestant worship, but was soon destroyed. The church in Chêne-Pâquier is designed as a transverse church , which means that the baptismal font and pulpit are on the central axis of the longer side. This spatial concept was used here for the first time in Switzerland and was intended to have a lasting effect on Reformed church building.

Other oval churches

• the Reformed Church of Oron-la-Ville in Switzerland, also by Abraham Dünz
• the Reformed Church of Horgen in Switzerland, whose floor plan is approximately oval
• the church of Grünberg , in the Uckermark
• the French Church on Potsdamer Bassinplatz
• The Strandby Kirke in Strandby at Aalbæk in Denmark - where there are also seven round churches
• the church in the mountain village of Albinen near Leukerbad in Switzerland
• the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale in Rome by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
• the Church of the Madonna delle Grazie; commonly known as St. Peter on Ischia , Italy

There are also a number of churches in Italy known as "elliptical churches".

literature

• M. Grandjean: Les temples vaudois , pp. 115-118. 1988.
• B. Reymond: L'architecture religieuse des protestants , pp. 103, 161-163 and 184. 1996.
• H. Schneider: Journey of discovery - Reformed church building in Switzerland , pp. 43 and 48–51. 2000.
• K. Speich / HR Schläpfer: Churches and monasteries in Switzerland , p. 253. 1978.

Coordinates: 46 ° 46 '13.6 "  N , 6 ° 45' 49.8"  E ; CH1903:  548458  /  one hundred and eighty thousand one hundred forty-two