The Church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois () is a medieval
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
in the
1st arrondissement of Paris
The 1st arrondissement of Paris (''Ier arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le premier'' (the first). I ...
, directly across from the
Louvre Palace
The Louvre Palace (, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxe ...
. It was named for Saint
Germanus of Auxerre, a medieval
bishop of Auxerre
The diocese of Auxerre () is a former French Roman Catholic diocese. Its historical episcopal see was in the city of Auxerre in Burgundy, now part of eastern France. Currently the non-metropolitan Archbishop of Sens, ordinary of the diocese of S ...
, who became a papal envoy and met
Saint Genevieve, the
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
of Paris, on his journeys. Genevieve is reputed to have converted Queen Clotilde and her husband, French king
Clovis I
Clovis (; reconstructed Old Frankish, Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first List of Frankish kings, king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a ...
to Christianity at the tomb of Saint Germain in Auxerre.
[Dumoulin, Ardisson, Maingard and Antonello, ''Églises de Paris'' (2010), p. 24]
The current church was built in the 13th century, with major modifications in the 15th and 16th centuries. From 1608 until 1806, it was the
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
for inhabitants of the Louvre, and the church contains the tombs of many notable artists and architects who worked on the palace. During the reconstruction following the
Notre-Dame fire
On 15 April 2019, at 18:18 Central European Summer Time, CEST, a structural fire broke out in the roof space of Notre-Dame de Paris, a medieval Catholic cathedral in Paris, France.
The fire, which investigators believe was started by a ...
on the nearby
Ile de la Cite, the
cathedral
A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
's regular services have been moved to Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois.
History
The first place of worship on the site was a small oratory founded in the 5th century to commemorate a meeting of Saint Germanus with
Saint Genevieve, the future patron saint of Paris. This structure was replaced by a large church, either by
Chilperic I
Chilperic I ( 539 – September 584) was the king of Neustria (or Soissons) from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Franks, Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund.
Life
Immediately after the death of his father in 561, he ...
, King of
Franks
file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty
The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...
, in about 560, or by Saint
Landry of Paris, the bishop of Paris, in about 650. That church was destroyed by the Normans in 886, rebuilt by King
Robert II the Pious, and then underwent further construction in the 12th century. The church was, from the Middle Ages, both collegiate and parochial: that is to say that it was partly the seat of a college of canons, and the parish church for all the residents of the district.
By the 13th century, it was again considered too small, and was enlarged further. Further changes and additions were made in the 15th and 16th centuries. The current structure is largely from the 15th century,
During the
Wars of Religion, its bell, "Marie," was rung on the night of 23 August 1572, which signaled the beginning of the
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. Thousands of
Huguenots
The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
, who were visiting Paris for a royal wedding, were killed by the city's mob. The church hosted the funeral of
François de Malherbe in 1628, and that of sculptor
Antoine Coysevox in 1720.
During the
French Revolution, the church was closed, pillaged, and converted into a barn for storing feed for animals, a printing shop, and a gunpowder factory at various times.
Some of the original stained glass still remains, despite the revolutionary vandalism. The building was returned to the Catholic Church in 1801, but suffered again during an anticlerical riot in 1831, when many paintings, funeral monuments, and windows were damaged or destroyed.
It was closed for several years, then underwent major restoration between 1838 and 1855 under the direction of
Jean-Baptiste Lassus
Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus (19 March 1807 – 15 July 1857) was a French architect who became an expert in restoration or recreation of medieval architecture. He was a strong believer in the early Gothic architecture style, which he thought as a ...
and
Victor Baltard
Victor Baltard (; 9 June 180513 January 1874) was a French architect famed for work in Paris including designing Les Halles market and the Saint-Augustin church.
Life
Victor was born in Paris, son of architect Louis-Pierre Baltard and attended ...
, who removed some of the surrounding buildings and made the building more visible.
Alexandre Boëly
Alexandre Pierre-François Boëly (19 April 1785 – 27 December 1858) was a French composer, organist, pianist, and violist.
Career
Born in Versailles into a family of musicians, Boëly received his first music lessons from his father, Jean-Fr ...
was organist at the church from 1840 to 1851.
The church was nearly demolished twice; once under
Louis XIV
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
, who envisaged enlarging the Louvre palace and building a new facade in its place; and again under
Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...
.
Baron Haussmann
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...
had a plan to install the beginning of a new boulevard on the site of the church, but the plan was put side after the construction of a small portion.
The church has been the "artists' parish" since the end of the Ancien Régime, when artists were housed in the Louvre. It was here that Jean-Philippe Rameau married on 25 February 1726. The Society of Saint-Jean for the Development of Christian Art, founded in 1839 by Lacordaire, have their masses here and met there every third Friday of the month.
In accordance with the wishes of the artist
Adolphe Leon Willette a mass called the "Messe de Willette" has been performed here since 1926 on
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...
for artists who were going to die during the year. The prayer is normally read by a prominent artist.
After 1 September 2019, following the serious fire at
Notre-Dame, the cathedral's services were temporarily transferred to Saint-Germain.
Exterior
The exterior of the church blends elements of
Romanesque,
Rayonnant
Rayonnant was a very refined style of Gothic Architecture which appeared in France in the 13th century. It was the defining style of the High Gothic period, and is often described as the high point of French Gothic architecture."Encylclopaedia B ...
,
Flamboyant Gothic, and
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
architecture. The only existing Romanesque elements, dating from the 12th century, are found in the lower portion of the bell tower, where it is attached to the south
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...
. The western portal was built around 1220-1230.
["Église Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois", Paris Tourist Office](_blank)
/ref> It was originally the meeting place of the canons of the cathedral, who held their ecclesiastical court there, and was the classroom where pupils were instructed in the catechism
A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...
.[Dumoulin, Ardisson, Maingard and Antonello, ''Églises de Paris'' (2010), p. 25]
Above the rose window is a balustrade which encircles the whole church, a work of Jean Gaussel, dating from 1435–39.
The 19th-century statues on the west facade represent French saints, including Saint Germanus and Saint Clotilde. They are surrounded by a rich assortment of sculpted animals, beggars, and fools.
The arches over the doorway are also crowded with sculpture dating to the end of the 14th century, depicting apostles, angels, the damned and the chosen, sages, and foolish and wise virgins. On the piers of the windows and arches are six reposing statues, resting atop demons and other figures, representing King Childebert I
Childebert I ( 496 – 13 December 558) was a Frankish King of the Merovingian dynasty, as third of the four sons of Clovis I who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511. He was one of the sons of Saint Clo ...
, his wife Queen Ultragotha, and Saint Genevieve, carrying a torch representing the light of Christ. Next to her, an angel relights a torch which a devil has just extinguished. The keys of the vaults also are filled with biblical personages, illustrating the Last Supper and the Adoration of Christ.
The lateral facade is also richly adorned with sculpture, including pinnacles and gargoyles, which also had the practical function of projecting rainwater away from the sides of the building. The consoles of the pinnacles also contain sculpted heads of animals, grimacing monsters, griffons and other fantastic creatures.
The exterior of the church has the only ‘Boule aux Rats’ (Ball of Rats or Rats Ball) in Paris and is one of four still existing in France.[ This sculpted stone motif which dates from the 15th and 16th centuries is in the form of a sphere surmounted by a cross. Five rats appear to come out of the ball, which is overseen by a demonic cat.][ The sculpture is located on top of the central buttress, just under a gargoyle in the courtyard that separates the church from the City-Hall of the 1st arrondissement
]
Bell towers
The original bell tower was placed against the south transept of the church in the late 12th century; its lower portions are the only remaining Romanesque elements of the church. This was the bell tower that gave the signal for the beginning of the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre of Protestants on 23 August 1572.
The north tower was added in about 1860 and is adjacent to the hall of the 1st arrondissement (1859). It was built by architect Théodore Ballu. It was part of the vast reconstruction of central Paris conducted by Baron Haussmann
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...
. To maintain harmony, he made the facade of the city hall almost identical in size and form with the facade of the church, complete with a rose window and a porch. He also designed the bell tower between the church and the city hall, in the same Neo-Gothic style. At the same time, Ballu rebuilt the upper portions of the old belfry of the church.
Interior
The church has a long central nave, built in the 15th century, a choir, a transept, and aisles along the nave. Numerous chapels line the aisles, each decorated with paintings and sculptures. Much of the decor comes from the time of Louis XIV, and the interior is lighter and brighter than in Gothic churches. Neoclassical upper windows provide additional light, and are primarily made with clear glass.
The most prominent element of the nave is the monumental set of carved wooden seats, created in 1684 for Louis XIV
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
and the royal family. It is in the center of the church, facing the pulpit. It was made by François Mercier, based on designs by Charles Le Brun
Charles Le Brun (; baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French Painting, painter, Physiognomy, physiognomist, Aesthetics, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. He served as a court painter to Louis XIV, ...
.
The south transept contains stained glass windows from both the 16th and 19th century.
The north transept retained most of its original 16th-century stained glass, as well as 19th century windows, but a 2009 fire in the workshop where the windows were being restored destroyed them, and they were replaced by clear glass. The north transept also displays a polychrome wood statue of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, dating to the 15th century.
Choir
The choir, where the clergy traditionally workshops, is unusual because it is longer than the nave, the seating for lay parishioners. Its Gothic architecture makes it the oldest part of the church interior, though it is overlaid with a considerable amount of Renaissance decoration, particularly the cannelures or vertical grooves of the columns, typical of the classical style.
Ambulatory
The ambulatory
The ambulatory ( 'walking place') is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th century but by the 13t ...
is the passageway that circles the church, enabling parishioners to walk around to the chapels even when a service is going on. It leads to several important chapels and displays several important works of decorative art.
At the entrance to the sacristy is a major work of the 17th century painter Sebastien Bourdon (1616–1671), "Saint Pierre Nolasque receives the habit of the Order of Notre Dame of Mercy." It is an example of the enormous and complex altar paintings for which he was known. Painted at the height of his career, it displays his particular skill at blending architecture and crowds of figures in rising levels.[Dumoulin, Ardisson, Maingard and Antonello, ''Églises de Paris'' (2010), p. 26]
Another notable work in the ambulatory is the triptych depicting the history of the original sin and the Legend of the Virgin Mary. It was made of carved and painted wood in Flanders between 1510 and 1530. It portrays (right) God the Father offering the fruits of the tree of life to Adam and Eve; (left) Satan extends the forbidden fruit to Eve; and (center), scenes form the life of the Virgin Mary. It was confiscated from the Church during the Revolution and returned afterwards, with two panels missing.
Chapels
Chapel of the Virgin
The Chapel of the Virgin, usually located in the east end of a cathedral, is found near the entrance of the church on the south collateral aisle. The choir and the first bay of the chapel date from the 14th century. It was created by combining four earlier chapels, then restored in the 19th century. It was originally used exclusively by the cannons of the cathedral chapter, but in the 15th century the cannons moved to the choir and the chapel was opened to the entire congregation.
The chapel is decorated with very elaborate sculpture combined with a group of paintings by the 19th century artist Eugene Amaury-Duval (1808–1885), such as the fresco painting " The Crowning of the Virgin". His works were created in a style close to that of the Pre-Raphaelite
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...
movement and the 14th century, especially the work of Fra Angelico, with a great simplicity of composition and elegance. Amaury-Duval's paintings are distinguished from the Pre-Raphaelites by their more sculptural figures.
The oldest work on display in the chapel is a statue of the patron saint of the church, Saint Germain of Auxerre, dating from 13rh century. Nearby is a statue of Saint Mary of Egypt, from the end of the 15th or beginning of the 16th century. The figure depicts her clothed only with her long hair, and holding three loaves of bread, which, according to her legend, allowed her to live for sixty years in the Egyptian desert.
Chapel of the Tomb
The Chapel of the Tomb (or Chapel of Calvary) is one of the oldest in the church. It was created in 1505 by a merchant of drapery named Tronson. He also donated money for ornament of the exterior, sculpture slices of fish, or "Trocons", a pun on his name. It became the chapel of the Guild of Drapers, which held special masses and events in the chapel. During the 1831 riots, the chapel was badly damaged, the tombs pillaged and the stained glass smashed. It was restored in the neo-Gothic style beginning in 1840, with new stained glass by Etienne Thevenot (1840), modelled after the windows of the Sainte-Chapelle
The Sainte-Chapelle (; ) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France.
Construction b ...
in Paris, with scenes depicting the life of Christ. The altar dates to the 1840, and is in the Louis XIV style, carved of the stone of Conflans. The statue of Christ below the altar in the chapel is of uncertain origin, likely from the 16th century.
Chapel of Saint Landry of Paris
The Chapel of Saint Landry dates from the 19th century, but it was originally built between 1521 and 1522, and was originally devoted to Saint Peter
Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...
and Saint Paul
Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...
. It became a family tomb for Etienne d'Alegre in 1624. It 1817, 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. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...
took it as the repository of the heart of Joseph Hyacinthe François de Paule de Rigaud, Comte de Vaudreuil. The rest of Rigaud's corpse remained in the family plot of the Calvaire cemetery in Paris. Later in the 19th century, after the overthrow of Louis XVIII, it was rededicated to Saint Landry of Paris, who died in 661. Landry was the bishop of Paris in the 7th century who founded the Hôtel-Dieu, Paris, the oldest Paris hospital and considered the oldest hospital in the world still in operation.
Chapel of Compassion
The Chapel of the Compassion, accessed from the ambulatory, was the former royal chapel. It contains one of the most notable works of art in the church, a Flemish carved retable
A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum, it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate struct ...
made in about 1515 in Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
, near the end of the Middle Ages, when Flanders was at its artistic height. The carved sculpture represents scenes from the Old and New Testament, and figures from all ranks of society, from kings and nobles to soldiers and peasants in traditional Flemish costume. The central compartment depicts a Tree of Jesse, illustrating the genealogy of Christ.
Organ
Nothing remains of the original organ of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, built before the Revolution. Some accounts say that the present organ was transferred from Sainte-Chapelle in July 1791, where it had been built twenty years earlier by François-Henri Clicquot, with a case designed by Pierre-Noël Rousset in 1752. However, its Neoclassical style seems to some writers to be too modern for that date.
From 1838 to 1841, Following the destruction in the church interior in the 1835 riot, the organ underwent a major restoration by Louis-Paul Dallery. Among the modifications made by Dallery, at the request of the new organist, Alexandre Boëly, was the addition of additional keys and pedals to enable the organist to fully play the works of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
. The instrument underwent further major modifications between 1847 and 1850, 1864, and in 1970–1980. The last modification were made with the intent of recapturing the original sound of the first organ by Cliquot in the 18th century. This was not a success, and some parts of the instrument gradually became unplayable.
A new restoration was undertaken beginning in 2008, which undertook to clean out the dust, and to preserve as much as possible of the original mechanism. Some of the old pipes and effects of the Cliquot organ which had become unplayable were cleaned and returned to service, and other pipes modified and reharmonized, to recapture, as much as possible the original sound.
The smaller choir organ, in the center of the church, was built in 1838 by John Abbey, enlarged in 1900 by Joseph Merklin, and reharmonized in 1980 by Adrien Maciet.
Stained glass
Most of the medieval and Renaissance stained glass was destroyed in the sacking of the church in 1831, but some notable examples remain. These include the rose window in the south transept, with scenes of the Pentecost designed by Jean Chastellain, with the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...
taking the form of a dove, and the window depicting the Incredulity of Saint Thomas, with glass by Jean Chastellain from a drawing by Noël Bellemare (1533).
Most of the medieval and Renaissance stained glass was destroyed during the Revolution and in the 1831 riots, but a few notable examples can still be found in the side chapels.
The largest part of the glass in the church dates to the mid-19th century. The Chapel of the Virgin contains examples of work of this period, by Charles-Laurent Maréchal and Louis-Napoléon Gugnon, and Etienne Thenvenot.
Antoine Lusson, who worked in collaboration with Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, also created Neo-Gothic glass for the church.
Notable tombs
The church contains a number of tombs of prominent artists who contributed to the decoration of the neighbouring Louvre during the 17th and 18th century. They include François de Malherbe (1628), Antoine Coysevox (1720), François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
(1770), and Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (1779).
See also
* List of historic churches in Paris
References
Further reading
*Dumoulin, Aline; Ardisson, Alexandra; Maingard, Jérôme; Antonello, Murielle; Églises de Paris (2010), Éditions Massin, Issy-Les-Moulineaux,
External links
Website of the church
*
{{Authority control
Roman Catholic churches in the 1st arrondissement of Paris