Chapelle Sainte Bernadette
Chapelle Sainte Bernadette was an abandoned chapel in the Charleroi region of Belgium. It was built in 1936 and eventually closed down in the mid-1970s. Today, the site is reconverted.
The Catholic chapel is situated in a small village named Cronfestu, on old miners’ town. In addition to coal, the area also had industries for granite, marl, and chalk. The construction of the Sainte Bernadette chapel was funded by the owners of the local cement plant. The cement works started in this village in 1880, later, it became the first Belgian company that produced Portland cement. The concrete factory was demolished in 1999.
The chapel was built between 1936 and 1937 and designed in an art deco style by Albert Genard.
An eye-catcher is the large stained-glass window above its triple door entrance. The window is evocative of the triangle of reuleaux, a curved triangle with constant width. The window aligns with the symmetrical curved concrete walls of the building.
The chapel has sat empty and disused for many years, and is slowly falling into further decay. It was formally decommissioned in 2016. Eventually, the building was sold in 2023. Today, the chapel is reconverted to three apartments. The architecture was respected and the window and curved walls are still visible. I visited the abandoned chapel in 2017.
The post Chapelle Sainte Bernadette appeared first on Abandoned and Lost Places.