Saint-Germain-des-Prés

The church is what remains of the abbey founded in the sixth century, when Bishop Germain persuaded King Childebert to build a basilica here; the Normans devastated it in the ninth. Abbot Morard began rebuilding in 990 with the bell-tower porch, the oldest bell tower in Paris; the nave is Romanesque, and Pope Alexander III consecrated the choir in 1163. After the Revolution, Godde and Baltard restored the church, and from 1843 Hippolyte Flandrin painted its decoration. Memorial plaques to Descartes, Montfaucon and Mabillon are in the chapel of Saint Benedict. The restoration of the Lady chapel, part of a campaign begun in 2016, was completed in March 2024. The photograph of 28 June 2024 looks down the painted nave, under a vault of blue and gold.