TEMPLE OF LEZINIER

Just like Catholic and Orthodox churches, Protestant churches offer a wide variety of architectural forms: hexagonal, octagonal, rectangular, and more. Inspired by antiquity, the construction of "round" or "circular" churches had the dual purpose of distinguishing themselves from Catholic churches (by inventing new forms) and achieving a centralized plan, better suited to listening to the Word. It was undoubtedly the round buildings that best met the new liturgical needs of Protestants, in order to gather the community around the minister. With its very distinctive, entirely circular architecture, the Lézinier Temple stands out for not being attached to any wall or other building. Completed in 1837, its construction took place on the site of the ruins of one of the 200 churches destroyed in the Cévennes region during the Great Fire of 1703.