The Basilica Notre-Dame of Geneva is the main Roman Catholic church in Geneva. The church was built according to the design of Alexandre Grigny between 1852 and 1857 on the site of a former stronghold fortifications. This neo-Gothic building, whose appearance is partly inspired by the Beauvais Cathedral, could break ground thanks to the city of Geneva, which had ceded land to religious communities to build places of worship, and through donations and manual labor provided by the Geneva Catholics.
After the coming to power of an anti-clerical government, Notre Dame was occupied on June 5, 1875 and closed. This occupation is accompanied by a protest against the Roman Catholic and more unrests. The commitment of Catholics to this sanctuary becomes even greater. Notre-Dame was bought by the Catholic Church in 1911–1912.
On December 5, 1954, Bishop François Charrière, diocesan bishop, pronounced in the name of Pope Pius XII the elevation of the shrine to the rank of minor basilica.
The oldest art works of the basilica date back to the time immediately preceding the Protestant Reformation like a carved wood panel with bas-relief image of the Virgin Mary, mutilated with an ax by Protestants.
The stained glass windows of the basilica are particularly remarkable. Some are semi-industrial production neo-gothic, but most show the evolution of the art of stained glass during the twentieth century, in various styles, after those of Claudius Lavergne (installed from 1857 to 1875).
References:Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).