The French Protestant Church of London is Soho. Ironically, only a small piece of greenery Soho Square separates it from the Catholic Church of St. Patrick. And it was the persecution of Catholics Huguenots fled to England for many years.

The height of the Protestant exodus from France came in the 1685 when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, which guaranteed freedom of religion. Then I came to England as the Huguenots, that by 1700, in London there were already 23 French church. The church in Soho Square - the only one remaining. It occupies a building specially built by the architect Estonia Webb in 1893.

In this project, Webb surprisingly joined the British tradition with French gothic style. Brick terracotta and dark plum color shows that the church is in the harsh London, but the bay windows, arched windows, pinnacles, graceful bell tower is clearly allude to France. Sandwiched between the neighboring houses, the church, however, it looks easy.

The tympanum above the entrance attracts attention .  Exquisite stone relief work of John Prengnella was installed there in 1950, to the opening of the first chetyrёhsotletiyu French Protestant Church in London (Trednild Street) .  The relief shows a stylized history of French emigration .  That boat arrives in Dover - Tie waving a handkerchief, enjoying a successful flight, but passengers seem seasick .  That went on shore woman in clogs and a spinning wheel - a reference to the production of silk fabrics, home while Protestants profession .  But at Dover Castle Huguenot leaders in the dress of the XVI century by taking a charter of Edward VI, which allows the presence of foreign churches in England (in fact Edward was then a child, on behalf of the regulations the Lord Protector Duke of Somerset) .  And above them the angels hold the cross and the Holy Spirit as a dove overshadowed all wings .  Big-figures, funny, with expressive eyes - the beauty of that relief!

Choosing a place for the church was not accidental - as early as the XVIII century SoHo has become a haven for immigrants from Europe. He was called the London Latin or just the French Quarter. By this time it settled here many French nobles who had fled the revolution. The latest wave of refugees brought the World - Soho lived representatives of the "Fighting France" (among them Andre Philip, a close associate of General de Gaulle).

The names of streets in SoHo are still talking about the former French presence: Beaumont Place, Dufour Place, Place du Faubourg. French themselves in such numbers here now gone, but they have enough to form a parish church in Soho Square.