Scots Kirk, Lausanne
Description
The Scots Kirk, Lausanne, is a protestant, presbyterian church situated in Lausanne, avenue de Rumine 24. It is part of the Church of Scotland's Presbytery of Europe and one of two congregations of the Church of Scotland in Switzerland, the other being the Scots Kirk in Geneva. Sunday services are in English.HistoryIn Lausanne, the very first attempts to form a Presbyterian congregation go back to 1866, but they failed after two years. Amalric-Frédéric Buscarlet, pastor in Naples, was staying temporarily in Montreux, where he worked as a chaplain during the tourist season. In 1874, Mrs Williamina Davidson invited him to come to Lausanne, to take some weekday services. Accepting the offer, he rapidly built up a small congregation, which soon asked the Continental Committee of the Free Church of Scotland to finance a permanent clerical post. Buscarlet was named the first minister of the Scottish Church in Lausanne in 1876.The first services were held in the Musée industriel, rue Chaucrau, or in the chapel of the Église libre des Terreaux, but very quickly Buscarlet gathered the necessary funds for the construction of a dedicated building. He engaged one of the most celebrated French architects of the period, Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (who was then working on the restoration of Lausanne Cathedral), to draw up plans for a new church. The construction was entrusted to Jules Verrey, a local architect who erected a number of other religious buildings, particularly for the Free Church of Vaud. The new church was formally dedicated to the glory of God on April 12, 1877, although it had still not been completely finished. The Rev. Buscarlet remained in post until 1907.
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