Guery school oratory

Chartres

Convinced that the signs traced in the soul during childhood can keep faith alive in adulthood, it is with great enthusiasm that the artist Fleur Nabert agreed to take charge of the creation of the oratory of the Guéry institution in Chartres. The catholic school was moving from old buildings to a brand new one. The room devoted to the oratory by the architectural project had no window, only a skylight: this would become its strength, that of an intimate place where children could come and find peace. Because a child's life also has its troubles to console. The oratory would be an island of silence where to have a real inner encounter.

Liturgical furniture

The altar, the ambo and the tabernacle are in chestnut wood veneer. Each marked with an essential symbol of faith. The Christ and the Virgin are adorned with gold leaf. On each small prayer bench is inscribed a phrase from the Bible.

Working with wood

To create the furniture, the artist went to a veneer specialist with the cabinetmaker. In the smells of wood, she looked for an essence whose design could sing, a design already present but which would be accomplished by the curling technique: cut pieces of wood according to very precise cutouts and put them face to face in a way to create mirror images. Within a few centimeters these images are no longer the same. A digital simulation work preceded the real cutting and then the assemblies were made to create the radiance that takes place on the altar, the ambo and the tabernacle.

Project carried out with the Helbecque cabinetmaking workshop (Pierre-Etienne Helbecque and Pierre Letournel) as well as the Gohard workshops for the gilding and Daphné by BDM for the small benches.

"To think is to seek
clearings in a forest."

Jules Renard

To the students

Dear students of the Guéry school,

J’ai eu la joie de créer cet oratoire pour vous. J’ai voulu qu’il soit comme une île de silence et de paix au milieu de l’école. Son épicentre, son coeur, son refuge. Sachez que dans cette pièce aux couleurs de sable, de miel et de bois, même si elle est vide, quelqu’un vous attendra toujours.

God is waiting for you.

He is in the Blessed Sacrament, protected in the hollow of the tabernacle which shines like a sun.

He is the luminous cross of the altar,

He is the Holy Spirit who soars straight to heaven on the ambo,

It is in the luminous face of the Risen Christ who smiles at you,

He is in the heart of Mary who looks at her son with the eyes of faith,

It is also in each of the sentences that you will receive when taking a small prayer bench and that Providence will have chosen to offer you.

It is in the beauty of its creation: this unique tree, a chestnut, with which I created all the furniture.

It is, above all, like a burning ember deep in your heart.

Each time you take to come and see it will blow on this ember to make it a beautiful bright flame.

I wish you to keep this flame all your life,

For there is no greater joy than to know God.

Work well, be good and keep your soul in the light.

Fleur Nabert, sculptor

August 26, 2022