A little-known episode in the history of Swiss art is the trend of the renewal of sacred art of the early 20th century in the Romanesque part of the country. Interestingly, the animator of this movement was an artist with Polish roots, decorator and writer - Alexandre Cingria (1879-1945). The origins of the idea were marked by the realisation of stained-glass windows in the interior of the neo-Gothic Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cornavin in Geneva (now the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Geneva).

Alexandre Cingria - pioneer of the sacred art restoration movement

Alexandre Cingria was the son of the painter Karolina Stryjeńska (1846-1913). Although he was born in Geneva, he had a lifelong interest in Polish culture. The impetus for his career as a stained glass artist came from the compositions of Józef Mehoffer (1869-1946) in Freiburg. Cingria was an animator and founder of the Group of Saint Luke (Groupe de Saint-Luc) - a grouping of artists specialising in high-class comprehensive ensembles of church interior decoration - from architecture, painting, mosaics, stained glass, sculpture, to liturgical vestments, vessels or settings for liturgical books - active between 1920 and 1945. The association's origins, linked to the art déco style, date back to the period of the revitalisation of the interior of the Church of Our Lady of Cornavin in Geneva between 1912 and 1914, when Cingria, the painter Maurice Denis and the architect Marcel Poncet, among others, began working together.

Polish stained glass window in the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cornavin in Geneva (now the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Geneva)

The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cornavin in Geneva was the first Catholic church to be authorised by the Calvinist republic of Geneva since the Reformation, in 1850. Several years after its commissioning, the building was taken away from Catholics as a result of anti-Catholic Kulturkampf laws. The re-dedication of this church to Catholics in 1912 had symbolic overtones. On this occasion, a decision was made to revitalise it. The work included the design and construction of stained glass windows in the windows of the choir apse. Among the completed glass compositions, made by Marcel Poncet's workshop in accordance with Cingria's concept, we find a vividly coloured double stained glass window with Polish accents. Woven into the geometric composition are the inscriptions "MATKA BOSKA CZĘTOCHOWSKA / PRAY FOR US", and "PANNO MARIA HOSTYNSKA / PRAISE US?", as well as angel heads. In the lower right-hand corner is an inscription recalling the names of the founders, "EN SOUVENIR DE MADAME ET MADEMOISELLE BORGHESE" (In memory of MADAME ET MADEMOISELLE BORGHESE). A subdued, atmospheric light seeps through the glass of the stained glass window, creating an atmosphere conducive to contemplation.