The extremely austere architecture of the modernist church is varied only by the colourful reliefs of the master of modern religious art, Lambert-Rucki. The realisation in Chartres is not one of his greatest, but it is certainly one of his most successful - in fact, in all of sacred sculpture in France in the 1950s.

The 16th century parish church in the town of Lèves, now a suburb of Chartres, was almost completely demolished during the fighting in August 1944. The decision not to rebuild it and to build a new church on its foundations was approved on 23.12.1948. The result was a very simple hall church designed by the local architect Jean Redreau, whose purist façade was composed entirely according to Lambert-Rucki's sculptural concept. A similar painterly treatment of the façade as a screen for coloured reliefs summarising the church's ideological programme can be found in the artist's work as early as the 1930s, in his large-scale realisation at the church of Sainte-Trinité in Blois. He would later use this method several times, in close collaboration with architects, in provincial French churches in Fiefs and Seltz.

In Lèves, the simplified evangelical programme is made up of asymmetrically arranged: a high-set large solitary figure of the risen Christ, particularly prominent against the light grey plaster; and in the ground-floor strip, a long frieze of the Last Supper (Lambert-Rucki's favourite subject) to the left of the entrance door and, to the right, three scenes from the Passion, with the Entombment, reminiscent of the scene of the Resurrection of Lazarus, to whom the church is dedicated. The primitive stylisation of the composition and the individual figures is devoid of references to specific historical patterns of Christian iconography. The artist seems to have achieved his own conception of archaic religiosity here. The sculptural decoration was originally envisaged on a larger scale; it was already limited during the realisation due to lack of funds. Published in the journal L'Art et l'Eglise in 1952 (no. 2, p. 131), the model of the church under construction has a facade composed differently, with only one - full-figure - sculpture of Christ in the upper part. For this church, Lambert-Rucki collaborated with stained-glass artist Gabriel Loire (the glass wall of the side aisle is by him), closely agreeing on the overall decorative and programmatic concept.

In 2003, a comprehensive restoration of the church was carried out, restoring the bas-reliefs to their original colours.