Church du Saint-Esprit (Holy spirit) in the East of Paris exotic looks: a red brick building with a tall bell tower, rather like a cell tower. Even stranger, the Church looks from the inside – it is a genuine Byzantium in Paris.

The local area – one of those where from 1860 there was rapid urbanization, growing population, there was an acute need for new places of worship. In 1928 Archbishop cardinal Dubois took the decision to build a temple here, entrusting the project to the architect Field Turno – he was a well-known construction in France and in Morocco religious buildings using reinforced concrete. In 1929 was ready the crypt of the Church, which played the role of the chapel during all subsequent construction.

In the same 1929 cardinal Dubois died. The Paris Archdiocese took Bishop Jean Verdier, who is remembered as "the Bishop of a hundred churches". He was a man of immediate action and great energy. When it was adopted and implemented a construction program in Paris, dozens of churches, chapels, hospitals, kindergartens. Part of this programme was the Church of the Holy spirit, completed in 1935.

Paul Turno joined in this project Incompatibles: architecture of Byzantine churches, and especially the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, with brutal aesthetics of reinforced concrete. The interior walls and vaults of the temple were not subjected to any finishing, patina of time on concrete surfaces makes them look like a Church carved into the rock. So the interior has obvious similarity with the ancient Christian catacomb churches.

The main nave is covered by a huge dome (22 meters in diameter, the height of the top point – 33 meters). The use of concrete to create such a complex design in those days was a real technical feat.

For interior decoration Paul Turno attracted great artists. Standing the way of the Cross performed Georges Desalle, frescoes – Robert albert, Genico, Raymond Wira, Henri de Maistre and many other masters. The combination of rough concrete surface with a huge polychrome frescoes looks unbelievable. One of the most amazing works in the Church, the relief of Jacques Martin's "Death of St. Joseph" Jesus takes the last breath of the dying, the mother of God reaches out a hand for one last touch of the hand of the defender. The plot of this was depicted by painters and sculptors extremely rare.

Here, in the temple, the bust of cardinal Verdier, whose energy ascended the temple. The bare concrete wall is written: "the Cardinal of a hundred churches – the people of Paris".