Saint-Vincent-de-Paul

Begun in 1824 to designs by Jean-Baptiste Lepère, the church was interrupted by the events of 1830 and opened for worship in 1844. Lepère’s son-in-law, Jacques Ignace Hittorff, revised the design and saw its decoration through, and the church was conceived as a showcase of the decorative techniques of its day, from wax painting to enameled glass and painted cast iron. Inside, Hippolyte Flandrin’s frieze of saints in procession, 92 meters long, was completed in 1853. On the front, Pierre-Jules Jollivet’s panels of enameled lava were ordered removed by Haussmann in 1861; some have since been restored and put back. The photograph opening this section looks along the portico; the visit inside rests on the author’s confirmation.