Paul Bellot

Who was Paul Bellot?

Paul Louis Denis Bellot was a French monk and modern architect.

He became an architect in 1900 having studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1902 he became a monk of the Benedictines of Solesmes. These monks were in exile in England, and Bellot began building Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight.

In the Netherlands Bellot designed St Paul's Abbey at Oosterhout for the Order. He designed several churches in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Canada and Portugal. Most of these are built largely of concrete or brick which were his preferred materials.

Bellot was a member of L'Arche, an organisation whose goal it was to use modern materials and art for religious purposes. In Canada, where he moved in 1937, he influenced several architects and his architectural influence became known as "Bellotism".

His ideas are expounded in Propos d'un bâtisseur du Bon Dieu which was published posthumously in 1949; it is based on lectures he gave in Canada in 1934.