Sunday, September 1, 2013

Tour of Protestant Churches in Northern France



     The French Reformed Church at Leuze dates to 1842. It's the last church in the area that hasn't yet been electrified. Services are held here only two times a year.


Landouzy-la-Ville (front)

     The French Reformed Church at Landouzy-la-Ville (1861) is now the largest of the remaining functioning churches in Upper Picardy. Apparently the first protestants in Upper Picardy were Landouzien farm workers who were converted around 1530 while harvesting crops in Meaux (near Paris).


Reumont (front)
      Originally a French Reformed Church, then Baptist, then "Irvingien," it now serves as a barn on what used to be the Méresse farm.

Lemé

     Although the French Reformed Church at Lemé is one of the oldest (1820) and largest churches in the area, it no longer serves a religious function. It has been turned into a museum on the Reformation and protestantism in the Thièrache (Upper Picardy).

Important figures in the Reformation. Possibly owned by Elisée Méresse.