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A Unesco World Heritage Site since 2005 and a regular port of call for cruise ships, Le Havre is a love letter to modernism, evoking, more than any other French city, France’s postwar energy and optimism. All but obliterated in September 1944 by Allied bombing raids that killed 3000 civilians, the centre was completely rebuilt by the Belgian architect Auguste Perret – mentor to Le Corbusier – whose bright, airy modernist vision remains, miraculously, largely intact.
Attractions include a museum full of captivating impressionist paintings, a soaring modernist church with a mesmerising stained-glass tower, hilltop gardens with views over the city and a medieval church that rose again from the ashes of war.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Le Havre.
Gallery
Near the waterfront, this luminous and tranquil space houses a fabulous collection of vivid impressionist works – the finest in France outside Paris – by masters such as Monet (who grew up in Le Havre), Pissarro, Renoir and Sisley. You'll also find works by the Fauvist painter Raoul Dufy, born in Le Havre, and paintings by Eugène Boudin, a mentor of Monet and another Le Havre native.
Church
Perret’s masterful, 107m-high Église St-Joseph, visible from all over town, was built using bare concrete from 1951 to 1959. Some 13,000 panels of coloured glass make the soaring, sombre interior particularly striking when it's sunny. Stained-glass artist Marguerite Huré created a cohesive masterpiece in her collaboration with Perret, and her use of shading and colour was thoughtfully conceived, evoking different moods depending on where the sun is in the sky – and the ensuing colours created by the illumination.
Gardens
The Jardins Suspendus (Hanging Gardens) is an old hilltop fortress transformed into a beautiful set of gardens, whose greenhouses and outdoor spaces feature exquisite flowers, trees and grasses from five different continents, as fine views range over the harbour. It's a 30-minute uphill walk from the centre, or you can catch bus 1 along bd François 1er near the beach.
Cultural Centre
Le Havre’s most conspicuous landmark, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and opened in 1982, is also the city’s premier cultural venue. One look and you’ll understand how it got its name, which means ‘the volcano’ – it's quite a sight, especially framed against a blue sky. Extensive renovations saw the complex reopen with a new concert hall and an ultramodern mediathèque (multimedia library). It's situated at the western end of the Bassin du Commerce, the city centre’s former port.
Architecture
Furnished in impeccable early-1950s style, this lovingly furnished bourgeois apartment can be visited on a one-hour guided tour that starts at 181 rue de Paris (Maison du Patrimoine). The apartment is a remarkable time capsule of the postwar boom days that Le Havre experienced, complete with clothes, newspapers, furniture and appliances exactly as one would have seen entering a downtown apartment in the decade of the city's reconstruction. Reservations are recommended as there are 19 places per visit.
Church
When Le Havre's concrete expanses and straight lines overpower you, stop by this lovely Baroque church, which somehow eluded the intense bombing efforts of the Royal Air Force. The cathedral originally dates to the early 16th century and is the oldest building in the centre of town; the interior is a repository of calm.
Architecture
This colossal building, built in 1958 to replace one flattened by allied bombing in 1944, was designed by architects Auguste Perret – that great connoisseur of reinforced concrete – and Jacques Tournant. It wouldn't look out of place on either flank of Tiananmen Square in Běijīng; in other words, you'll either love it, or hate it. In front – to the south – of the building is the huge Place de l'Hôtel de Ville.