The Chapelle expiatoire ("Expiatory Chapel")''expiatoire'' does not appear in contemporaneous sources; it was added later. is a chapel located in the

8th arrondissement of Paris The 8th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le huitième'' ("the eighth"). The arrondissement, ...

, France. The chapel was constructed on the grounds where King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette had been buried after they had been guillotined, and it is therefore dedicated to them. The closest métro station is Saint-Augustin Metro-M

History and construction

The chapel was designed in 1816 by the French

Neo-Classical architect Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

Pierre François Léonard Fontaine, who, with his partner

Charles Percier Charles Percier (; 22 August 1764 – 5 September 1838) was a neoclassical French architect, interior decorator and designer, who worked in a close partnership with Pierre François Léonard Fontaine, originally his friend from student days. For ...

, figured among Napoleon's favourite architects. Fontaine's assistant

Louis-Hippolyte Lebas Louis-Hippolyte Lebas (31 March 1782 in Paris – 12 June 1867 in Paris) was a French architect working in a rational and severe Neoclassical style. Life and career He was trained in the atelier of Percier and Fontaine, the favoured architects ...

oversaw the construction. The chapel was partly constructed on the grounds of the former Madeleine Cemetery, where King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette had been buried after they had been guillotined.

King Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in e ...

shared the 3 million livres expense of building the ''Chapelle expiatoire'' with the

Duchess of Angoulême Several women have borne the title of Duchess of Angoulême. Among these are: * Joan II of Navarre, daughter of King Louis X of France, wife of Philippe d'Évreux, who was created Duke of Angoulême in 1317. Title exchanged 1404. * Louise of Sav ...

. Construction took ten years, and the chapel was inaugurated in 1826 in the presence of King Charles X. When he blessed the cornerstone of the ''Chapelle expiatoire'', Hyacinthe-Louis de Quelen,

Archbishop of Paris The Archdiocese of Paris (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Parisiensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Paris'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is one of twenty-three archdioceses in France ...

, called in vain for an amnesty of the exiled members of the National Convention.

Building and courtyard

The ''Chapelle expiatoire'' stands on a slight rise. There are two buildings separated by a courtyard which is surrounded by an enclosed cloister-like precinct, a peristyle, that isolates the chapel from the outside world. The building on Rue Pasquier is the entrance. There is an inscription above the entrance, which reads (translated): In the courtyard are cenotaphs to those who were known to be buried in this location. The chapel itself is entered through a pedimented tetrastyle portico, of a sombre Doric order. It contains a domed space at the center of a Greek cross, formed by three coffered half-domed apses with oculi that supplement the subdued natural light entering through the skylight of the main dome. The cubic, semicylindrical and hemispheric volumes recall the central planning of High Renaissance churches as much as they do a

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...

martyrium A martyrium (Latin) or martyrion (Greek), plural ''martyria'', sometimes anglicized martyry (pl. martyries), is a church or shrine built over the tomb of a Christian martyr. It is associated with a specific architectural form, centered on a cent ...

. White marble sculptures of the king and queen in ecstatic attitudes were made by François Joseph Bosio and

Jean-Pierre Cortot Jean-Pierre Cortot (20 August 1787 – 12 August 1843) was a French neoclassical sculptor. Life Cortot was born and died in Paris. He was educated at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, and won the Prix de Rome in 1809, residing in the Vi ...

. There is also a bas-relief by French sculptor François-Antoine Gérard (who also did some of the other carvings) showing the exhumation and removal of the remains of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to the

Basilica of St Denis The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...

. The

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

contains a black and white marble altar intended to mark the place where the royal remains were found. The ''Chapelle expiatoire'' is without doubt the most uncompromising late neoclassical religious building of Paris. Chateaubriand found it "the most remarkable edifice in Paris". The chapel's severe geometry is unrelieved by sculpture, as can be seen by the view from rue d'Anjou.

Later history

In 1862, the cypresses which surrounded the chapel were cut down, and a public park (''Square Louis XVI'') was created around the complex. In May 1871 the Paris Commune demanded that the Chapel be torn down. This was never put into effect. Every January 21, a memorial mass is held in the chapel to commemorate the death of Louis XVI. The Chapel was severely damaged by storm in 2009.

Photographs

Image:Chapelle expiatoire Louis XVI mg 4551.jpg, Image:Chapelle expiatoire Louis XVI mg 4548.jpg, File:Une messe à la Chapelle expiatoire - Turpin de Crissé.jpg, Mass in the chapel (1835) Image:Chapelle expiatoire Louis XVI mg 4549.jpg, Image:Chapelle expiatoire Louis XVI mg 4550.jpg, Image:Chapelle expiatoire - voutes de la galerie latérale.jpg, Image:Chapelle expiatoire voute.jpg, Image:ChapelleExpiatoire.JPG,

References

External links

Chapelle expiatoire on the Centre des Monuments Nationaux websiteMonum: Chapelle ExpiatoireExpiatoire/infoWebsite of novelist Catherine Delors
{{Authority control 1826 establishments in France Cemeteries in Paris Roman Catholic churches completed in 1826 Roman Catholic churches in the 8th arrondissement of Paris Roman Catholic chapels in Paris Votive churches Monuments of the Centre des monuments nationaux 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in France