Notre-Dame-de-l'Arche-d'Alliance

Notre-Dame-de l'Arche-d'Alliance
Religion
Affiliation	Catholic Church
Province	Archdiocese of Paris
Rite	Roman Rite
Location
Location	81 Rue d'Alleray, 15th arrondissement of Paris
Architecture
Style	Modern architecture
Groundbreaking	1996 (1996)
Completed	1999 (1999)

Notre-Dame-de-l-Arche-d'Alliance is a modern cube-shaped Roman Catholic Church located at 81 rue d'Alleray in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. It was designed by the firm Architecture-Studio and was built between 1996 and 1999

History

The church was built in response to the rapid increase of population of in parish, a largely residential area northwest of the city center.

The name of the church comes from the Latin "Arca" or Chest", the case in which Moses protected the tablets inscribed with the principles of Christianity. The high cost of land resulted in relatively small plot of land, which made it necessary to make the maximum use of all the available space.

Exterior

The church is in the form of a perfect cube, eighteen meters high and wide. Its form symbolises the celestial city Jerusalem, which is described in the ʽBook of the Apocalypse" as a perfect cube, of equal, length, width and height. The cube is supported by twelve pillars, which symbolise the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles. The exterior is composed of resin panels reinforced with wood fibres. Over the panels is a decorative surface painted to resemble wood. The exterior of the church is are entirely covered with a repetitive inscription of a prayer to the Virgin Mary, "Je Vous Salle Marie," or "Hail Mary".

Surrounding the cube is a stainless steel screen which seems to shine at night. Next to the church is the bell tower, a slender stainless steel lance with the single bell clearly visible inside. The bell is named "Sister Josephine of Jerusalem".

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• 
  The church and bell tower

Interior

The interior of the church is in the form of a Greek Cross, and has a minimum of decoration. Light and color Color provided by the stained glass windows. A metallic screen separates the nave from the sanctuary of the apse.

The altar is made of plain white marble from the Greek island of Tassos. The gilded cross on the wall of the apse is an image projected from the tribune over the entrance.

The baptistry of the church is located directly below the nave, and is visible from the nave through a section of glass ceiling.

Stained Glass

Two large stained glass windows, designed by Martial Raysse and made by Jean-Dominique Fleury, depict scenes from the Old Testament and New Testament. One illustrates David dancing in front of the Biblical arch, after the Philistines have returned the arch to the Israelis, as recounted in the Second Book of Samuel, 6, 14-21. The second window represents Mary, pregnant with the Christ child, hurrying to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who is soon going to give birth to John the Baptist.|

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  The Choir, with white altar in the foreground
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  The staircase of the nave

External Sources

- Article on the church in [patrimoine-histoire.fr (in Frencħ)

- [1] Information about the church in the parish website (in Frencħ)