Eglise Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, opposite the Louvre

Located opposite the Louvre Museum, theEglise Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois is one of the oldest churches in Paris, and one of the capital's greatest Gothic monuments. And yet, the church has been destroyed and rebuilt many times over.

The first historical traces of theEglise Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois date back toMerovingian times. However, the church bears no physical traces of this period, since it was completely destroyed during the Viking siege of Paris in 885.

It wasn't until the 11th century that the church, then known asEglise Saint-Germain-le-Rond, was rebuilt under Robert II the Pious, before falling into ruin again and being rebuilt asEglise Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois in the 13th century. All that remains of this period is the Romanesque base of the bell tower.

From the 14th century onwards, the church became the parish church of the Kings of France, due to its proximity to the Louvre, then the kings' residential palace. But it was a macabre episode that was to mark the history ofSaint-Germain-l'Auxerrois church, since it was its tocsin (a civil bell supposed to warn the population of imminent danger) that rang out on the night of August 23-24, 1572, triggering the massacre of Protestant civilians during the St. Bartholomew's Day.

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But the church has also welcomed happy events, such as Molière's wedding in 1662 and Danton's in 1787! Since the Ancien Régime, the church has been known as the "parish of artists" or the "Saint-Denis of Genius and Talent". Many artists, then living in the Louvre, chose to be buried there.

A complicated period followed for theEglise Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, as it became a fodder store, a printing works, a police station and a saltpetre factory under the Terror. After being threatened with destruction several times under the First and Second Empire, the church (which became a church again in 1802) finally remained in place, and soon found itself next door to the new 1st arrondissement town hall.

Built as a carbon copy of the façade of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, the Mairie du Premier Arrondissement was designed by architect Jacques Hittorff in 1859, and is so similar to the church that it can be difficult at first to tell them apart! The neo-Gothic belfry, 38 meters high, was erected in 1863 by Théodore Ballu to unite the two buildings.

Not to be missed are the stained glass windows, some dating from the 16th century; the magnificent 15th-century porch (the only one in Paris in the flamboyant Gothic style, along with that of the Sainte-Chapelle) and the Chapelle de la Vierge.