Description
Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois is the Gothic church directly across from the Louvre, in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. For two centuries it was the parish of the palace, and many of the artists and architects who worked there are buried inside.
The arches over the western portal are crowded with carved apostles, angels, sages and the foolish and wise virgins. Inside, the highlight is a Flemish carved altarpiece from Antwerp, made around 1515 and full of kings, soldiers and peasants. The nave keeps the carved wooden royal pew designed by Charles Le Brun in 1684 for Louis XIV.
On the night of 23 August 1572, its bell rang the signal for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, when thousands of Protestants were killed in Paris. High on an outer buttress, a carved "ball of rats" shows five rats escaping a globe watched by a demonic cat.
After the 2019 fire at Notre-Dame, the cathedral's services moved here for a time.
The arches over the western portal are crowded with carved apostles, angels, sages and the foolish and wise virgins. Inside, the highlight is a Flemish carved altarpiece from Antwerp, made around 1515 and full of kings, soldiers and peasants. The nave keeps the carved wooden royal pew designed by Charles Le Brun in 1684 for Louis XIV.
On the night of 23 August 1572, its bell rang the signal for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, when thousands of Protestants were killed in Paris. High on an outer buttress, a carved "ball of rats" shows five rats escaping a globe watched by a demonic cat.
After the 2019 fire at Notre-Dame, the cathedral's services moved here for a time.