Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois

Eva Longoria and Tony Parker had their recent church wedding at Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois; a moment of big excitement and also of frustration for their fans who were not allowed to see anything.




Until then the major event related to this church was the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, August 24, 1572. The tower bells of the church rang, signalling the supporters of Catherine de’Medici and her sons Charles IX and the future Henry III to launch the slaughter of thousands of Protestant Hugenots, invited to celebrate the marriage of Henri de Navarre, future Henry IV, to Catherine’s daughter Marguerite de Valois, future “Queen Margot”.

(The bells were actually ringing from the smaller tower you hardly can see.)

The church is situated just east of the Louvre and was a royal chapel, when the Louvre was still a royal castle. With some origins from the 12th century it achieved its present appearance in the 15th century. After the revolution the church was used as warehouse, printing office, police station…, but was restored during the 19th century when also the central bell tower was completely rebuilt.

The church is only the right part of what may look like one building. The left part, the Town Hall of the 1st arrondissement, was also added in the 19th century.

Stained glass windows are mostly from the renaissance period, the organ is from the 17th century, you can find a beautiful Flemish retable…

The originals of the above photos can be found on my other blog "Peter - photos".