The most beautiful religious buildings Romandy

This remarkable building in the Radiant Gothic style was built from the 13th century onwards and completed in 1490. The late Gothic tower is 74 m high and contains thirteen bells, among the oldest in Switzerland. The main portal is adorned with beautiful sculptures (copies of the 15th-century originals) and a 17th-century wooden statue of St Nicholas of Myra. The Sunday Gate was originally the main portal. Statues framed by arches overhang an oak door in the Louis XVI style with a Virgin and Child in the centre, a statue of St Nicholas and the three young girls he saved on the left, and the Three Wise Men on the right. Inside, the choir, which is higher than the nave, and the old sacristy, which dates from the 17th century, can be seen. Above the 15th century stalls, beautiful frames by Jean-François Reyff surround two paintings by Nicolas de Hoey, painter to the court of Henri IV. The high altar, from the 19th century, is in the neo-Gothic style. The side chapels are illuminated by double lancet windows and open towards the nave through semi-circular arches. In the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, the group of figures that make up the Entombment is the most important group of monumental sculpture of the late Middle Ages and the most important medieval funerary group in Switzerland. Beautiful stained glass windows by Manessier. The top of the tower, accessible in summer, offers a beautiful view of the city. It is also a place of pilgrimage linked to Santiago de Compostela.

Former fortifications from the 17th century which housed a powder magazine and which exploded. Since then, they have been rebuilt and provide a beautiful viewpoint over Freiburg with a view of its old quarters, the white university and part of the Henri Tower. The chapel of Loreto dating from 1646 is a small replica of the Santa Casa de Loreto in Italy. The small and very pretty Loreto path invites you to walk or drive down to the Upper Plank.

The cloister is located to the north of the 12th century collegiate church. It was enlarged in 1380 and the Gothic architecture of its stone vaults can be admired. The collegiate church harmoniously combines Romanesque (choir and crypt), early Gothic (nave) and Baroque (altar) styles. The collegiate church hides the relics of Saint Ursanne under the high altar. The bones are kept in a stone coffin dating from the Gallo-Roman period. A very old place of worship, about fifty monolithic sarcophagi were found during excavations.

Built under Ulrich, Lord of Neuchâtel, from 1185 and completed in 1276, the collegiate church, which adjoins the castle, is of late Romanesque style. In 1530, the Reformation arrived in Neuchâtel; the collegiate church was emptied of its altars and its decoration and was assigned to a new cult. It was restored at the end of the 19th century. Inside, a rather dark Romanesque choir, the nave lighter, a beautiful funerary monument of the counts dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, restored in 1840. In front of the main entrance is a statue of the reformer Guillaume Farel. Nice cloister.

The first construction dates from 1281, but the main part of the building still visible was built in the 18th century. Inside, the oldest choir stalls in Switzerland date back to 1280. The church has a magnificent altarpiece by the Masters of the Carnation. When open, the altarpieces show the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Magi; when closed, the Annunciation, with Saints Clare of Assisi and Elizabeth of Hungary. In the side chapels there are eleven baroque altars.

The present building was erected on the remains of a 4th century Palaeochristian funerary church and the foundations of a 10th century Romanesque church. In Gothic style, the church of Saint-Gervais, of the same name as the district surrounding it, was erected in the middle of the 15th century in what was then a town in the medieval old town on the right bank. Several restorations brought back to light frescoes and paintings that can be admired today, as well as the magnificent carved wooden stalls in flamboyant gothic style and beautiful stained glass windows.

An architectural charm still intact for this religious building consisting of a nave and chapels dating from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. It was part of the parish of Saint-Martin de Vevey. Like many churches, it underwent transformations when the Reformation was adopted in 1536. The polychrome paintings were then camouflaged like all the ostentatious signs of Catholicism. It was rediscovered that in 1924 the witnesses of a past construction with an authentic keystone of an old chapel and tombs in the choir.

Situated high up (above the Russian church), this site may have been a Roman necropolis (tombs from this period have been discovered there). In 1497, a tower and four turrets were added to the first church. An architecture that greatly pleased Victor Hugo, who came several times to Vevey. So much so that he would have made a sketch of it to make a replica in the Pays de la Loire region. At the back of the church, a stained glass window represents Saint Martin dividing his coat in two.

Catholic worship, abolished in 1536 by the Bernese, resumed in private homes in 1798 and, from 1812, in the new Mercerie temple. In 1832, the church of Notre-Dame du Valentin was built, the first Catholic church built in Lausanne after the Reformation. In 1992, it was elevated to the rank of basilica by Pope John Paul II. The church features a magnificent fresco by Italian Futurist Cubist painter Gino Severini (1883-1966).

Built in the 13th century on the ruins of an old church dating from the year 1000, Saint-Laurent is the first Protestant temple founded by the Bernese. Having survived with difficulty through the ages, notably because of the fire in Lausanne and certain acts of vandalism, a new temple was built between 1716 and 1719, and the main façade was renewed again in 1762. Today, the Reformed Church of St. Lawrence offers visitors the opportunity to observe its beautiful baroque façade with a clock tower.

Built in 1818 and 1822, this neoclassical temple is worth a visit for its astonishing Romanesque-Byzantine wood carvings (1919-1930) by Ernest Christen, pastor and artist. It is a building renowned for its interior paintings: paintings by Eric Hermès and stained glass windows by master glass artist Charles Wasem (based on models by Eric Hermès) complete the decoration. Some of the frescoes evoke the former parish of Carouge. The stained glass windows are also masterpieces for the period in which they were made. In addition to worship, concerts are organized.

The doors of St. Catherine's Church are just waiting to be pushed open to discover the beautiful baroque architectural ensemble. It is one of the oldest religious buildings in the city. This 17th century building was restored and modified in the 20th century, first in 1920-1921 and then in 1994. It was badly damaged by the earthquake of 1946. Inside, the stained glass windows are particularly well arranged, the small ones at the bottom and the large ones at the top. The high organ is magnificently displayed in its woodwork setting.

Founded in the ^11th century by monks attached to the Abbey of Cluny (Burgundy), this beautiful Romanesque church was completed in the ^12th century. In the ^15th century, a vast nave collapsed due to lack of maintenance, and was never rebuilt. Despite the absence of the nave, this church is one of Switzerland's most beautiful Romanesque buildings, and is listed as a historic monument. The frescoes date from the ^14th century and were only discovered in 1897, as they had long been covered by a grey whitewash applied by the Protestant Bernese.

The church is believed to have been built in the ^15th century on the ruins of a monasteriolum, a small church possibly dating back to the ^11th century. It features a square tower topped by an eight-sided curved spire measuring 7.5 m on each side. After the arrival of the Bernese in 1536, the church became a Protestant temple, which it still is today. Old Montreusiens call Saint-Vincent le temple des Planches. The modern stained-glass windows are the work of Vaud artist Jean Prahin. From the terrace, there's a fine view of the greater Montreus area.

After passing through the imposing portal of the building, you can admire the beautifully frescoed vaulted ceiling inside. On the wall adjacent to the church, you can read the history of the parish (Lutry church and convent). Lutry's origins are attested by a few notes mentioning the existence of a castrum and a fishing village(lustriacum). However, the town really took off in the ^11th century, thanks to the establishment of a Benedictine convent. Originally very modest, it consisted of a simple claustrum to the south of the church; its buildings expanded in the ^13th and ^14th centuries to form a vast monastic complex. In 1577, the vaults of the church's nave and choir were completely covered with Mannerist paintings by the Flemish painter Humbert Mareschet. They represent one of the richest ^16th-century decorations in Switzerland. A rarity in Switzerland, especially after the Reformation, which prohibited and even demolished this type of painting. It is said that they were in fact offered to the parish by the authorities in exchange for the parishioners' acceptance of the Reformation. However, the painter avoided all religious and biblical figures, outlawed by the Reformation, and replaced them with zoomorphic figures: atlatls, satyrs, fauns and chimeras. A "grotesque décor" with scrolls and graceful animals, roosters, rabbits and cranes, as well as a masked putto (love) facing a turkey. A possible metaphor for the vanity of those who conceal their personality.

It is the second largest Russian church in Switzerland, alongside the one in Geneva. In the ^19th century, many families of the Russian aristocracy came to spend the winter in Vevey. The Shouvalov family had two daughters, including Barbara, who died in childbirth in Vevey in 1872. Her family made a donation to the town to build a church in her memory. Typical of Slavic architecture, it was designed by Ippolito Antonovitch Monighetti between 1875 and 1878 and completed by the town's architect Samuel Késer. The church was listed as a historic monument in 1979.

Built in the ^11th century by Cluniac monks, the Abbey Church is one of the most important examples of Romanesque art in Switzerland. Built according to a typically Cluniac layout, it is characterized by a remarkably well-preserved unity of style. The purity and majesty of its architecture make this monument a masterpiece of Romanesque art at its best. In 2007, with the abbey church threatening to collapse, emergency measures were put in place and a major restoration program launched. Allow 1h30 for the audioguided tour.