Église Saint-Sauveur à Recouvrance, Brest, Church building in Recouvrance district, Brest, France.
Église Saint-Sauveur is a Jesuit-style church built between 1740 and 1749 to a design by engineer Amédée-François Frézier. Its gable facade carries a full semicircular arch above a panelled wooden double door, flanked by two grilled windows over blank stone panels, with curved scrolls linking the centre to lower side walls. The bell tower holds three arched openings with bells, crowned by a small open arch and a cross. Inside, a nave of nine bays runs between side aisles.
The 1679 chapel dedicated to Saint Saviour was built by a contractor using unemployed dockworkers; nicknamed "the church of wasted time", it was demolished in 1724. The present church, designed by engineer Amédée-François Frézier, was built between 1740 and 1749. On 16 May 1750 Bishop Gouyon de Vaudurant made it a parish church, separate from Saint-Pierre-Quilbignon.
The church holds a statue of Notre-Dame de Recouvrance created by artist Yves Collet, positioned above the right side altar. This sculpture reflects the neighborhood's deep connection to its patroness.
The church stands in the Recouvrance district on the right bank of the Penfeld, opposite central Brest. A commemorative monument in Kersanton stone stands in the courtyard. An adjoining room houses the Orthodox parish of the Theophany.
The nickname "church of wasted time" belongs to the 1679 chapel, not the present church. Recouvrance residents had a contractor hire unemployed dockworkers, who knew shipbuilding rather than masonry; the unsound chapel was demolished in 1724. The 1740-1749 church by Frézier replaced it.
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