Notre-Dame-du-Vent Chapel

The story behind the place

Notre-Dame-du-Vent stands at Port-aux-Français in the Kerguelen Islands. Volunteers from the station's missions helped build the chapel between the late 1950s and early 1960s. Its spare white walls, patterned upper windows and open bell frame make it unlike a traditional steepled church. The building was constructed around a basalt altar stone found locally. The official district history records its intended dedication to use by all faiths, linking a small building to the community that made it.

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