Église Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption de Royan, Modern church in Royan, France

The église Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption is a modernist church built on a rectangular plan with no pillars in the nave, which is doubled by a side aisle forming five chapels of unequal proportions. Its white rendered facade carries a large arched inset filled with a red and blue ceramic tympanum of the Assumption, made by André Trébuchet with plaques from the Gien faïencerie, set slightly proud of the wall. A square bell tower flanks the facade, and a flat concrete canopy on angled walls shelters the recessed entrance at the top of a wide flight of steps.

The church was built between 1951 and 1954 by architects Jean Bauhain, René Baraton, and Marc Hébrard to replace a chapel destroyed during wartime. The building emerged as part of the town's broader reconstruction effort following the destruction of the Second World War.

The church is also known as Notre-Dame-des-Sables, after the chapel destroyed in the bombings. From 1946 Father Martin Laurent, a Capuchin, held open-air masses in the Parc district and later used a wooden cabin nicknamed "Notre-Dame-des-planches". The choir wall is movable and opens outward, allowing services to be held outside.

The church sits on Avenue Émile Zola in the Parc district and is easily reached on foot from the town center. The modern design and location make it simple to find and approach from any direction.

The choir wall is movable and can open to the outside, allowing mass to be celebrated outdoors and doubling the church's capacity. The nave's stained glass was made in 1957 by painter Maurice Rocher and installed the following year by glassmaker Jean Barillet using the dalle de verre technique, with glass set in concrete rather than lead.