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Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse, Lisieux

Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse, Lisieux

Louis-Marie Cordonnier, Louis-Stanislas Cordonnier & Louis Cordonnier

Photo: Raimond Spekking · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Lisieux, France
Client / Owner
Thomas-Paul-Henri Lemonnier
Year
Completed 1954
Access
Public
Typology
Spiritual

The Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse in Lisieux was designed by Louis-Marie Cordonnier, and his son Louis-Stanislas and grandson Louis supervised construction across three generations. Bishop Thomas-Paul-Henri Lemonnier was the client, with strong support from Pope Pius XI. The infobox and text agree on construction from 1929 to 1954. The crypt was finished in 1932, the basilica blessed in 1937 and consecrated in 1951.

The infobox says Neo-Byzantine, but the text says Roman-Byzantine, modeled on the Sacred Heart Basilica in Paris. It is 344 feet (105 m) long, 213 feet (65 m) wide and 295 feet (90 m) high, with capacity for 4,000. Mosaics cover much of the interior, and the crypt uses marble and mosaics. Donations paid for it.

Townspeople and Carmelite nuns sheltered in the crypt in 1944. Pope John Paul II visited in 1980. The separate bell tower, built in the 1960s, was never fully finished and has 51 bells. The article gives no hours.

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