The relief of Saint Cécile from the Saint-Gabriel church, winner of the Pilgrim Prize for the Creation and Renovation of Churches 2024

The young musician, in profile, turns her eyes towards the pipes of the organ which form like a sacred mountain, lost in the clouds. Around her, children and cherubs revise their score, waiting for the there to sing. On this high relief in flamed sandstone, gentleness seems to reign, and Saint Cecilia, patroness of musicians, awaits her martyrdom while already having her head in heaven.

“It is the work of Charles Desvergnes (1860-1928), Grand Prix de Rome, renowned artist at the turn of the 20th century, who wanted to celebrate the revival of sacred music then encouraged by Pius X,” explains Christian Brunel-Laurent , project manager at the sacred art commission of the diocese of Paris. This ceramic inspired by the Renaissance received the Pilgrim Prize for the Creation and Renovation of Churches in partnership with Chantiers du Cardinal. The work, today preserved in the Saint-Gabriel church (20th arrondissement of Paris), near the Cours de Vincennes, was created between 1911 and 1913 for the entrance to the Sainte-Cécile de Charonne chapel, two streets away. “An old hangar transformed into a total work of art by innovative Christian artists,” explains the project manager.

In 1935, the cramped parish built Saint-Gabriel and the relief of Saint Cecilia was moved there, with other decorations. The price will allow for meticulous cleaning of the ceramic. Its gray cement joints will be softened, its cracks and breaks repaired so that it regains all its delicacy. “We are working to offer a tour of the Art Deco churches of eastern Paris in order to make their treasures known, starting with this work,” concludes Christian Brunel-Laurent.