LE HAVRE

Unesco World Heritage

In the 19th century, Le Havre became a large industrial city integrating a port dedicated to the traffic of raw materials (cotton, coffee, spices, exotic woods, etc.) and to passenger transport, with the rise of transatlantic ships. Fruit of an anchored maritime and port history, Le Havre's heritage recounts an urban epic punctuated by great architects: Bellarmato, Thibault, Lamandé, Perret, Niemeyer, Reichen & Robert without forgetting Jean Nouvel.

Le Havre city center is the first reconstructed site (20th century urban ensemble) listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Major architect of the 20th century, true "concrete poet", visionary, Perret has succeeded in giving a new face to a city ravaged by the Second World War. He reinvents a unique city with a readable and airy architecture. The architecture gives pride of place to light, this same light, so particular, which inspired Claude Monet Impression, Soleil Levant, painted in Le Havre in 1872. A painting which gave its name to the Impressionist movement .

The arrival at the port of a ferry

Sainte Adresse beach, the last rays of 2020

St. Joseph Church

This is the must visit of the reconstructed city. This masterpiece by Auguste Perret will surprise you. Take the trouble to enter, you will discover a majestic modern church.

With its 6,500 stained glass windows and concrete walls, the Saint-Joseph church is a beacon in the heart of the city. It was erected in memory of the victims of the bombings of the Second World War.

Visible more than 60 km offshore in good weather thanks to its 107 meters high, the octagonal lantern-tower is integral with its square base which unites the nave and the choir. This masterpiece of 20th century architecture will take your breath away with its incredible beauty.

Le Havre was the object of a unique reconstruction in the post-war context. From the outlined city to the built city, the elaborate urban fabric is made up of numerous constructions, each having its own specificity. Thanks to a reflection of integration, the reconstructed center combines spaces and obvious buildings. The city rebuilt by Auguste Perret appears today as one of the most significant urban creations of the 20th century.

The monumental ensemble projected by the Atelier de Reconstruction du Havre was baptized "Porte Océane" in reference to the work of Edouard Herriot published in 1932 ("La Porte Océane") and as a symbol of the passage between the city and the sea.

Return from fishing

The port of Le Havre in the early morning

The port of Le Havre

The Sainte-Adresse beach pontoon

Le Havre marina

The buildings of the Residence de France on the seafront

The waterfront

In red brick with its turrets, La villa Maritime Facing the sea, this immense villa of 1200 m2 has 42 windows, a greenhouse and two artificial caves. The architect Henri Toutain built it in 1890, at the request of Madame de Aldecoa. It belonged successively to Georges Dufayel, from 1896, and to Armand Salacrou, from 1939. Initially, he lodged his parents there. In 1943, like other villas by the sea, it was requisitioned and transformed into HQ-Observation Post. A bunker was installed in the garden, and the firing station was given the appearance of a Norman house.
Armand Salacrou himself occupied this house from 1969 until his death in 1989.
After having been rehabilitated, it became, in 2001, the property of the Partouche group.

The seafront at sunset

Sculpture of Lang and Baumann on the beach

Installed on the beach on the occasion of Le Havre's 500th anniversary, the monumental sculpture UP # 3, an ephemeral work of artists Lang / Baumann, has won the hearts of the public. To the point that the municipality decided to make it permanent from the summer of 2018. It was therefore reconstituted in white concrete, echoing the universe of Auguste Perret, the architect of the city center.

Cargo from Le Havre

The sculpture "Originally", a work by the artist Fabien Mérelle representing an elephant balanced on the back of a man, has finally arrived at its destination in Le Havre.

The giant sculpture was expected for June 23, as part of Un Été au Havre 2018, but did not finally arrive until July 18. A somewhat dizzy haulier, having first delivered her by mistake to Southampton .

This is how the legend is born around a work of art!

Some people from Le Havre hoped for the return of the sculpture “At the origin” by Fabien Mérelle, presented as part of Un été au Havre 2018, in their city. The elephant will not come back.

"Originally", a metaphor for the weight of religions: it was installed at the end of the Augustin-Normand dike. A few fathoms away rises "To the end of the world", depicting a father carrying his daughter, his gaze turned towards the sea, multiple horizons and diverse cultures.

The two sculptures retraced the intimate and personal journey of the artist, his fight against prejudices, religions for the love of a woman. Reunited for the time of A Summer in Le Havre, these two works will no longer intersect.

Fabien Mérelle's monumental sculpture “Until the end of the world” was installed at the End of the World, on the foreshore of the town of Sainte-Adresse.

During confinement, on May 3, 2020, the statue, installed on the beach at the end of the world was set on fire.

Le Havre seen from the beach of Sainte Adresse

Le Havre and the pontoon seen from the beach of Sainte Adresse

Sculpture of Lang and Baumann on the beach

Installed on the beach on the occasion of Le Havre's 500th anniversary, the monumental sculpture UP # 3, an ephemeral work of artists Lang / Baumann, has won the hearts of the public. To the point that the municipality decided to make it permanent from the summer of 2018. It was therefore reconstituted in white concrete, echoing the universe of Auguste Perret, the architect of the city center.