The Church

SAN LUIS

The Church of San Luis

The church is in the neoclassical style and was designed by the French architect and engineer Antoine d'Allemand (1679-1760). Its façade presents the coat of arms of France and a portico with three semicircular arches, of which only the central arch provides access to the interior of the temple. Above the main door is a small, recently created sculpture of King Saint Louis, located inside a chapel topped with the "Tau" cross, an attribute of Saint Anthony the Abbot, the town's former patron saint. Sculpted above this arch are the coats of arms of two figures related to the founding of the town: the Count of Lannion and the intendant Causan. We can also observe the inscription engraved by the French, which commemorates the founding of the temple. It reads: "DIVO LUDOVICO SACRUM DEDICAVERE GALLI AN MDCCLXI". The interior of the temple features an atrium with the coats of arms of the Bishop of Mallorca, Bernat Despuig i Cotoner, and the Bishop of Menorca, Pedro Antonio Juano. Above the atrium rises the "choir", built in 1805. On the keystone of the choir arch that opens towards the nave is another coat of arms belonging to a French nobleman. The temple has a single nave, with a simple cross vault and three interconnected lateral chapels with a rectangular plan that open towards the interior of the nave. The main altar, preceded by a semicircular triumphal arch, contains two carvings: the first represents Christ Crucified, and the second, King Louis IX of France, the titular saint of the Church. The bell tower, 31.5 meters high, presents two sections: the first is square in plan, where the bells are located, ending in a balustrade, and the other is octagonal, with four openings, over two of which the tetragrammaton is written, that is, the name of God in the Hebrew language. When the French left the island in 1763, only the presbytery, the sacristy, and the bell tower remained to be finished. The works were halted until 1782, when they were resumed, and a year later, the temple was blessed. In 1793, the bell tower was finished, although its current appearance dates from 1884, designed by Bishop Mercader. It displayed the sculptures of the four evangelists, destroyed in 1936, as well as the oil painting of "Saint Louis venerating the Mother of God" by the French painter L. Sueur, a gift from the Duke of Richelieu, which had been the property of his grandfather, the famous Cardinal Richelieu.