Notre Dame de France

Notre Dame de France stands in Leicester Place, a short walk north of Leicester Square in London’s West End. It is a circular church built in the 19th century for the French Catholic community. The building began life as Burford’s Panorama, an early circular entertainment hall. French architect Louis-Auguste Boileau converted it into a church using cast iron, making it London’s first cast-iron church. Cardinal Wiseman invited the Marist Fathers to run the mission and placed Father Charles Faure in charge. The church was consecrated in 1868 and still keeps its original rotunda shape. The church suffered heavy bombing during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Repairs started quickly under Father Laurent and were completed in 1948 with help from French Ambassador Jean Chauvel and British Prime Minister Anthony Eden. Between 1953 and 1960, French artists decorated the rebuilt interior. Hector Corfiato led the rebuilding work, and René Varin encouraged the creation of a special sacred space honouring France. Inside, a bas-relief of Our Lady of Mercy by Georges-Laurent Saupique sits above the entrance. Dom Robert’s tapestry behind the main altar shows Paradise on earth with scenes from Creation. The Lady Chapel holds murals by Jean Cocteau depicting the Annunciation, Crucifixion and Assumption, restored in 2012. A mosaic of the Nativity by Boris Anrep was uncovered beneath Cocteau’s painting. The modern altarpiece shows the Flight into Egypt by Timur D’Vatz. The 1868 organ, enlarged and rebuilt after the war, remains in use.