Pierre Bossan

Pierre-Marie Bossan (Lyon, 1814–1888) was a French historicist architect, a pupil of Henri Labrouste, specialising in ecclesiastical architecture. In 1844 he was appointed architect to the diocese of Lyon, where his major work was the neo-Byzantine basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière (1872–84), on a height dominating Lyon. He also designed Lyon's Église Saint-Georges, an extension to the parish church at Ars-sur-Formans (1862–65) [The twelfth-century church of Saint Sixte, was rebuilt by the Curé of Ars, as a narthex to the basilica by Bossan. In the basilica is a reliquary containing the body of the curé, canonised as Saint Jean-Marie Vianney.] and churches at Régny, Neulise and Couzon-au-Mont-d'Or (1854–56), as well as the pilgrimage basilica of La Louvesc (1865) in the Department of Ardèche, Dauphiné.

There are funerary monuments designed by Bossan at Valence.

He is buried in the Cimetière de Loyasse, Lyon.

elected works

* 1854–56: Cloister of the Visitandines, Lyon
* About 1855: Maison Blanchon, quai Fulchiron, Lyon. A house in Moorish taste ["Saints et Madones au coins de nos rues", éditions lyonnaises d'art et d'histoire, 1995:58]
* 1858–62: Église de l'Immaculée-Conception, Lyon
* completed 1859: Petit séminaire de Meximieux (Ain), today the Hôtel de Ville
* 1862–65 Basilica at Ars-sur-Formans, département de l'Ain
* completed 1865: Église Sainte-Anne, Lyon. Unifinished; closed in 1938 and demolished 1939 [Jean Pelletier, "Connaître son arrondissement, le 3eme", éditions lyonnaises d'art et d'histoire, pp. 42-43]
* completed 1865: Église Saint-Maurice, Echallon
* 1867: Construction begun on the parish church of Régnié-Durette, département of the Rhône; the structure was completed in 1895, after his death
* 1872: Construction begun on Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon. Inaugurated in 1896

Notes