Église Protestante Unie de la Transfiguration

Église Protestante Unie de la Transfiguration stands in Nice as a nineteenth-century Protestant church shaped by German-speaking Lutheran worship. Designed by Russian architect André Lavezzari, it opened in 1866 with Greek-style forms, plastered stone masonry, and a small central bell tower. Its façade shows a blind arcade beneath rounded windows, while the roof rises in two broad slopes covered with flat tiles.

Inside, a single nave leads to a shallow apse, with a wooden gallery and organ at the opposite end. The Marseille-built organ arrived in 1881, and the 1887 earthquake brought damage that donations helped repair. Six blue geometric stained-glass windows, designed by Reiner Joppien in 1966, now accompany Eugène Doucet’s painting of the Transfiguration of Christ. Later additions include a raised altar on a double blue ceramic platform, a mosaic, and an engraved cross.

German, French, and English services have all taken place here, while Malagasy and Finnish communities also use the church. Since 2018, the German Evangelical Church of Nice has gathered in the building, continuing a connection with German-speaking worshippers that began in 1856. Look for the contrast between the sober blind arcades, wooden ceiling sculptures, blue glass, and the painted fresco in the apse.