Saint-Laurent

announced in parish newspapers

Neuville-Saint-Vaast, overlooking the plains of Artois, was in the heart of the tragic confrontation of the Great War, which was the cause of its destruction.

After the Armistice the village rose again from its ashes. The new church of Saint Laurent was built in the neo-gothic style by the architects J.de Saint Maurice and H. Philippe. They chose re-enforced concrete using the techniques of a local man, François Hennebique. This contemporary material became an emblem of the reconstruction which took place between the two wars.

The main altar is exceptional, as it has the particularity of also being the war memorial. Over shadowed by a representation of Lazarus, the names of the dead of the village frame the tabernacle linking the traumatic memory of the war with the hope of resurrection.

This church is a real example of the state of mind of the survivors of the tragedy of the Great War.