Église Saint-Roch

Église Saint-Roch is a Catholic church in Nice, in France’s Alpes-Maritimes region. Its Baroque façade and twelve-metre dome rise above a rotunda supported by four equal bays. This arrangement remains rare in France and reflects oriental influence from Nice’s period under Sardinian rule.

Residents of Roquebillière and Riquier sought a chapel after the plague of 1631. Joseph Pisano completed the first chapel in 1661, funded by local residents and property owners. As the neighbourhood grew, construction of the present church began in 1788 with materials from the demolished Lympia forge. Later alterations included nineteenth-century expansion and a trompe-l’œil façade restored between 1980 and 1989.

Inside, the Virgin Mary chapel holds a white-marble statue carved from a block weighing about 700 kilograms. A polychrome wooden Saint Roch with his dog recalls the earlier chapel. From the dome’s centre hangs a crystal chandelier rescued from the Jetée Promenade casino after its demolition during the Second World War. The church has stood as a classified historical monument since 1984.