The Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois

While visiting the recently re-opened Samaritaine department store a few years back, we looked out some shoe department windows and saw, close-up, the gargoyles, flying buttresses, towers, and other marks of a Gothic church, and wondered which of the various churches we knew of it could be. Not nearby St. Eustache nor St. Merry, nor obviously any of those on the other side of the river. We made a note to locate and visit the mystery church some other day. The church turned out to be Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, tucked in between the Louvre and Samaritaine along with the town hall of the 1st arrondisement. It was the parish church of the Louvre, and thus the monarchs, but, as with the other parish churches in the inner city, just a second fiddle to the cathedral. Presently, the leadership of the cathedral is working out of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois while Notre-Dame is being repaired. 

Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois was built in the 13th and 14th centuries, has undergone the usual centuries of use and abuse, and then major restoration in the 19th. Most notably, in 1572, its bells initiated the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, when some thousands of French protestants were killed, their leadership at the behest of Charles IX and his mom, Catherine de Medici, most of the rest by the overwhelmingly Catholic Paris mob. The massacre spread to twelve other cities, and as many as 30,000 Huguenots were murdered in all. It was the worst of the many savage events in the Wars of Religion. Marlowe's The Massacre at Paris was perhaps its first appearance in literature; Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots is a supreme example of French grand opera, three centuries later. 

Samaritaine overlooking Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois

Pretty much the view from the colonnades of the Louvre

Main entry, tympanum

St. Germain, St. Genevieve, and a happy angel,
who appears to be holding a plunger

St. Genevieve being tempted by the little devil

Toussanct was here in 1647

Knave view; flamboyant

They were tuning the organ, pipe by excruciating
pipe, while we were there

Forward from the altar

Interesting crucifix sans cross

Big diptych with highlight scenes from the Bible

Mostly 14th century windows

Business as usual in a working church, although it's been awhile
since the monarchs attended mass here

The Mairie wants you to know that the big tower

Belongs to the town hall, not the church

Return To Avenue Rapp And Square Rapp

Our short visit to Pere Lachaise afforded us the opportunity to take a scenic cross-town bus back to Avenue Rapp, in the 7th, where we saw one of Paris' best art nouveau specimens during our night out May 27th: 29 Avenue Rapp. Our approach this time led us to Square Rapp, around the corner, and another stunning example of Paris art nouveau, 3 Square Rapp. Both buildings were designed by architect Jules Lavirotte in the early 1900s. 29 Avenue Rapp is known as the Lavirotte Building. Lavirotte himself lived on the 5th floor of 3 Square Rapp.

Stepping into Square Rapp: it's all trompe l'oeil on the
building facing you

On the right, a building that would arouse interest
anywhere else

Home of France's Theosophical Society (remember
those from Palmerston North and Wellington?!)

It's the one on the left, #3, that is the stunner

In perspective

Off the web

Moving on now to the Lavirotte Building, 29 Avenue Rapp,

and its incredible portal

As full a shot as I could get

Upper stories

Details

Symbolism and allusion all over, much of it sexual,
interpretation of which I will leave as a homework
assignment

I like trees as much as the next person, but this one
is really pushing it

A couple more pix off the web, from a different season or different
time

Obviously, Lavirotte was not overly concerned
with symmetry

But the view is nice

Walking back to the bus stop, another beauty; you can almost
pick a street at random, at least in the single-digit arrondisements
and the 16th, and see something of architectural interest

Cimeterie Pere Lachaise, 2023

On Whitmonday, a holiday in France, we made a brief visit to the great cemetery of Pere Lachaise, a place we first visited with Tawana and Wes in 2012, and then later several times when we lived in the 11th. Brief on this day because 1) we'd forgotten how huge the place is and 2) we hadn't the strength for a long visit; 3) the more famous sights can be a long way apart; 4) summer has begun and it was warm and dusty; 5) the hilly nature of the place and its cobblestone and gravel paths were not good for the knees; 6) Google Maps seemed much less useful in this larger and denser cemetery; and, 7) we'd already seen and documented much that is of interest. Just enter "Lachaise" in the search box to see past posts. Of course it may appear morbid to visit cemeteries, but these French cemeteries are filled with art, architecture, and history. Visiting them is very French, as attested in the episode where Luc takes Emily to Pere Lachaise for her birthday pique-nique lunch. Also attested to by the line of tour buses outside the walls.

Some of the tour buses

Entrance

Helpful map

Helpful list of important residents

Are art, architecture, history, and literature not enough? Must we
endure a score of signs telling us about the flora and fauna of the
cemetery? They didn't even mention worms and daisies! Totally
inappropriate in a cemetery, Vicki added

Sometimes you're just struck by the beauty of a tomb, the emotion...

With no clue as to who was buried there

Nor what he/she was famous for

Case in point

Street scene

The Tysons of France

Balzac, beneath whose monument Luc and Emily
had their pique-nique

No longer lonely, as Luc had lamented

Bookish neighbor

Gericault and his masterpiece, The Raft of the Medusa

Jacques-Louis David, painter and revolutionary, 
surpassing all others...