"By visiting the Saint-Quentin Tourist Office, you can obtain an "Art Deco Trail" brochure, which allows you to discover these magnificent and iconic sites in approximately two hours. The trail includes: the Municipal Fish Market, the bow windows, the stained-glass windows of the basilica, the Rue de la Sous-Préfecture, the "Quatre Vents" crossroads, the Rue de Lyon, the Carillon, the Rue de la Sellerie, the Conservatory of Music and Theatre, the École des Patriotes, the Rue Voltaire, the public baths, the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, the Council Chamber, the train station area, the Buffet de la Gare, the Casino, the Fraternelle and the Maison du Peuple... and other points of interest such as the Orientalist palmette decoration of the former Nouvelles Galeries department store, and the Art Deco chandelier on the landing leading to the Council Chamber of the Town Hall. At the end of the First World War, Saint-Quentin, occupied from 1914 to 1918 by the German army and located on the Hindenburg Line, was more than 70% destroyed. During the 1920s, the city was rebuilt. Alongside restorations and reconstructions identical to the originals, and neoclassical, neo-Gothic, or regionalist creations, the Art Deco style quickly emerged in Saint-Quentin. In 1925, the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris was the culmination of the aesthetic movement that would be called "Art Deco." This artistic movement, particularly in architecture, has its origins on the eve of the Great War (the exhibition was initially scheduled for 1915), but the reconstruction of devastated cities offered designers a tremendous opportunity to apply the principles of a new way of life, that of the Roaring Twenties. Art Deco aimed to be a A break with the "disorder of Art Nouveau" and a return to classical tradition, blended with influences as diverse as Cubism, Antiquity, and the arts of Africa and the Far East. Bas-reliefs in concrete or sculpted stone, wrought ironwork, and mosaics, which made a strong comeback, were all mediums and materials exploited by artists in a spirit of stylization and geometrization of natural forms. In Saint-Quentin, architects worked on the reconstruction of the homes of wealthy clients, businesses, and public buildings. Art Deco was undoubtedly the most remarkable style of the city's architectural renaissance after the trauma of the First World War.

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Gilles Lemoine