In Montbéliard, the rebirth of the oldest Protestant temple in France

Simple yet majestic, the building of white limestone and pink sandstone, topped with a discreet bell tower, has stood in the center of Place Saint-Martin for over 400 years.

Closed during the works, 4,5 million euros financed by the parish, public authorities and the Heritage Foundation, it was inaugurated on Saturday.

The local pastor, Hugues Girardey, marvels at the renewed youthfulness of "the cathedral," as the regulars call it. He hopes to make this renovated church a space "for welcoming and meeting."

Completed in 1607, the oldest temple still in operation built in France for Lutheran worship is the work of Heinrich Schickhardt (1558-1635), architect to Prince Frederick I (1557-1608), Duke of Württemberg and Count of what was then the autonomous territory of Montbéliard.

The 37-meter-long, light-filled building features a dark wooden pulpit behind the choir. Opposite, on a stone balustrade, the 1755 organ and its 1.500 pipes overlook rows of designer chairs for the congregation.

The suspended ceiling is adorned in its center with a painting depicting The Good Shepherd bringing a stray sheep back to the flock, a discreet testimony of Protestant art.

Trompe-l'oeil

Classified as a historical monument in 1963, the building also features a reproduction of the Montbéliard Altarpiece, a work which tells the story of the New Testament in 156 images, the original of which is kept in Austria, in a Viennese museum.

"This building was created after a trip to Italy" by Heinrich Schickhardt, explains historian André Bouvard. The architect drew inspiration from Antiquity and the Renaissance, while preserving the exterior simplicity of Jesuit churches.

The building is "halfway" between Germany, where "the temples are extraordinarily decorated", and "France where it is a little more sober", emphasizes Mr. Bouvard, who followed the different stages of the construction as a leading historian.

Behind the old blue of the interior walls, the restoration revealed trompe-l'oeil painted decorations, forgotten by all. Light grey and dark blue, they highlight the windows and are surmounted by painted pediments, sometimes curved, sometimes triangular.

"Heinrich Schickhardt transformed Montbéliard from a small medieval town into a Renaissance city," with this temple as an essential monument of local history, notes Anaïs Baronnat, a tour guide at the tourist office of the "city of Princes," the nickname for Montbéliard.

Two interactive tablets now allow visitors to explore the site in greater depth.

"Hybrid church"

Preventive excavations have also revealed the remains of the medieval church of Saint-Martin, dating from the 11th and 12th centuries, upon which the Protestant temple was built. "Prince Frederick I decided to create a magnificent building that clearly demonstrates that Montbéliard is Protestant," recalls André Bouvard.

The Montbéliard region still has nearly 70 Protestant temples, including Saint-Martin, located near the regional headquarters of the United Protestant Church of France.

Attached to the Holy Roman Empire until 1793, this territory was marked by a relatively peaceful Reformation, becoming a land of asylum for the persecuted.

Protestant values ​​– rigor, widespread education, and work viewed as a duty – shaped the history of the region, the cradle of the automotive industry. In the 18th century, Protestant families such as Peugeot, Japy, Méquillet, and Noblot helped to make it a major industrial center.

Although the number of worshippers is declining, Hugues Girardey hopes that the reopening of the temple will allow for "re-articulation of the religious and cultural aspects".

He envisions a "hybrid church", alternately a haven of spirituality and a place of effervescence, hosting concerts, shows, exhibitions or conferences, while remaining a place of worship open to the outside world.

"The temple is not a sacred place," he reminds us, and can become "a place of evangelization, that is to say, of encountering the other, by deconfessionalizing the discourse and without proselytizing."