Temple de Nieulle-sur-Seudre

Under the Ancien Régime, the Protestant village of Nieulle was part of the Catholic parish of Saint Sornin. With no temple, Protestants had to go to the neighboring hamlet of Souhé, 5kms away, where there was a house of prayer.

Historic site and monument

Descriptif

Under the 1st Republic, when communes were created, the inhabitants of Nieulle were not satisfied with being attached to Saint-Sornin. To conquer their communal independence, they began by building a school and housing for the teacher. At their own expense, and with the help of Pierre-Isaac Garesché, a Protestant merchant born in Nieulle, who drafted the "cahiers de doléances" of Marennes and was a deputy for the Tiers-État at the Estates-General of 1789. Opposite his ancestral home, he provided a plot of land that would gradually become the village square, with the school, town hall and temple surrounding it.

The temple was built in 1836. In this relatively poor region, most temples are simple rectangles. Architectural research and decoration generally focus on the front door. Here, the architecture is extremely simple, but the façade is elegant. A bible can be seen beneath the bell. It symbolizes the importance of the Word of God in the Protestant religion.

Inside the temple, four stone panels bear Bible verses.