Paris1972-Versailles2003

We have come quite often to Nantes, a City that needs to be visited more by all. A wonderful historical city with many monuments to see, many wonderful properties. I was again on my local road warrior mode and as bit not back, decided to give it a refresher to this must to visit City of Nantes, Loire-Atlantique dept 44 of the Pays de la Loire region,in my belle France ; even if old Bretagne! Do read my previous posts on the city as well, For now let me tell you about the wonderful Church Notre Dame de Bon Port , part II !! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

The Church of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Port is located at 2 Rue Damrémont and was built in 1852. Its official name is  the church is ,also, referred to as the Church of St. Louis, in reference to Louis-Hyacinthe Levesque,  mayor of Nantes during the construction of the first church which, as a generous donor, wanted  to bear the name of his  patron Saint. Its main façade overlooks the Place du Sanitat, which is connected by the rue Mazagran to the quai de la Fosse, where the main traffic of the Port of Nantes was held at the time of its construction. The church is framed on the west by Rue Damrémont, and on the east by rue Mascara, while in the north a group of buildings adjoining the bedside of the Church isolates it from the rue Dobrée.

The Notre-Dame de Bon Port Church is the only church in Nantes to bear three names. It is also called “Saint-Louis” after Louis IX. However, the factory council of the church prefers the term “Notre-Dame de Bon Port” which placed it under the protection of Sainte Marie, just as not then Notre-Dame de Chézine was. Finally, others also designate it as the Church of Sanitat.

Again, I have translated text from the parish site and brochures on site upon my visit to the Church Notre Dame de Bon Port,

The Church Notre-Dame de Bon-Port is the third church erected in the Sanitat district, named after a hospice now disappeared. Its dome adorned with zinc and wearing a golden archangel is one of the architectural emblems of Nantes. The first church in the district was built in 1612. It corresponds to the chapel of Sanitat, located in the dead end which gives the hospital of the same name. The Sanitat Hospital was in fact not an establishment where the sick were treated but rather a hospice where the poor, the marginalized, the orphans and the elderly were welcomed. In 1825, this chapel bearing the term of Notre-Dame de Chézine was raised in a parish. It houses an independent church which disputes the papal authority and claims a modern liturgy, This worship is ultimately prohibited by the royal power in 1843. The chapel will be sold and then transformed into a workshop. Following the colossal damage caused by the 1943 bombings, its vestiges were destroyed. The second church was built on Place Eugène Livet between 1824 and 1828. It took the term of Saint-Louis in homage to the major who created this project, and to the King of France Louis IX, canonized in 1297. Deemed too narrow, the church was sold to an individual in 1860.

In 1843, it was decided that one of the plots of this terrain , 38 meters wide over a depth of 47.50 meters was devoted to the elevation of a new church of a square layout, Construction began in 1846, and the inauguration took place in 1858, the structural work was not completed until 1860. The church was not devoted until October 24, 1883. The layout centered on the Italian Baroque from the 1650s, while inspired by French neo-classicism. The Notre Dame de Bon Port Church is built according to a Greek cross plan thanks to a system of pendants, the dome is based on four pillars connected by large arcs making the transition between the square plan of the church and the circular plane of the dome. The painter Alphonse Le Hénaff produces the sets of the pendants and the dome. Four scenes from Louis IX’s life are painted in the pendants. Among the figures adorning the dome, the Holy King is again put in the spotlight. The artist carefully represented the Sainte-Chapelle, built by the Sovereign, as well as the Sainte-Couronne of thorns of Christ, preserved in this same place. A golden archangel and a cross rising at 60 meters in parent height arrow of this dome 20 meters in diameter.

The main facade of the Notre Dame de Bon Port Church agrees with the neo-classical architecture of Place du Sanitat. The triangular pediment supporting the roof is decorated with a bas-relief carved by Amédée-René Ménard. The Virgin welcomes the unfortunate stages a group of fourteen figures with the center, the Child Jesus, seated on the lap of Notre-Dame de Bon-Port. This work evokes the departure of the sailors requesting the protection of Notre-Dame before their embarkation on the ship, then their return safe at the port. The tympanum, directed by Joseph Gouézou, represents the consoling Christ. In order to preserve the composition from the weather, the artist uses silicate painting.

Between 1879 and 1881, the Nantes organ factor Louis Debierre built the great organ of Notre-Dame de Bon Port. This neoclassical style instrument is remarkable by the technological innovations which has been endowed, in particular with regard to transmission. This is the system connecting the keyboards of keyboards and the valve pedals, that is to say the wooden parts controlling the air passage through the pipes and therefore the production of sounds. Thus, the transmission of this organ is electric or electropneumatic, while before it was done mechanically. The choir organ was also built by Louis Debierre in 1894, initially for the small seminar of Sables d’Olonne. In 1910, the instrument was refurbished by the factor and transferred to Notre-Dame de Bon Port.

ps. This past Sunday, February 18, 2024 nearly 500 of traditionalist Catholics left shortly after 16h from the Church of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Port to carry out a way of the cross in the streets of Nantes, at the call of the Sacerdotal fraternity of Saint-Pie X. The procession, which organizes this Cross Stations on the occasion of the first Sunday of Lent, joined the Sainte-Croix Church at 18h.

The official Catholic parish of Notre Dame on the church Notre Dame de Bon Port : https://notredamedenantes.com/leglise-notre-dame-de-bon-port/

The Heritage site of the city of Nantes on the church: https://patrimonia.nantes.fr/home/decouvrir/themes-et-quartiers/eglise-notre-dame-de-bon-port.html

There you go folks, do visit Nantes,and its wonderful monuments, A must to visit while in the city ; see the memorable Church Notre Dame de Bon Port, part II !! Again, hope you enjoy this post as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!