Saint-Germain-des-Prés Church, the heart of the Latin Quarter

There's no way that while wandering around Boulevard Saint-Germain and the Latin Quarter, you haven't come across theEglise Saint-Germain-des-Prés. But have you ever been inside? If you haven't already, consider this beautiful Parisian Romanesque church on your next stroll through Paris!

First of all, a word of clarification. TheEglise Saint-Germain-des-Prés is part of an abbey, known simply as the Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its construction, dedicated to Bishop Germain de Paris, dates back toMerovingian times (558), as do most of the churches in Paris. This makesSaint-Germain-des-Prés the oldest church in Paris!

Until King Dagobert and the construction of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, theAbbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés was the necropolis of the Merovingian kings and their wives. Destroyed by the Normans at the end of the 9th century, the abbey was rebuilt in the following century and the other buildings in the 13th century. It then became a place of recollection for copyist monks, who were responsible for copying books by hand.

During the French Revolution, and like many religious buildings in Paris, the abbey closed its doors to the faithful and became a saltpetre refinery, before returning to its former functions in 1803. The precious manuscripts it contained were dispersed and the tombs of the Merovingian kings destroyed. In 1794, tons of gunpowder stored in the church exploded, further destroying the beautiful edifice.

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But this was without counting on the architects Étienne-Hippolyte Godde and Victor Baltard who, in the mid-19th century, were commissioned to restore theAbbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés . Baltard had already restored theEglise Saint-Etienne-du-Mont and theEglise Saint-Eustache, mentioned here and here.

The two partners commissioned the painter Hippolyte Flandrin to do all the interior decorations. With the help of other artists of the time, Flandrin drew inspiration from Byzantine and Roman art, as well as primitive Italian painters, to decorate the walls of theEglise Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Paintings that can still be seen today!

Despite the early Gothic transformations carried out by the architects, theEglise Saint-Germain-des-Prés has retained its charming Romanesque style- one of the only vestiges of this architecture in the whole of Paris!