Church Saint-Germain-des-Prés visitor guide

Visit Church Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris

The Church Saint-Germain-des-Prés is a church in the heart of the Saint-Germain area of Paris (part of the Latin Quarter), in the Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés and part of the 6th arrondissement to the south of the Seine.

From the outside the church is not remarkable, and goes unnoticed by many visitors to the Cafe de Flore and the Les Deux Magots, two very famous cafes across the square from the church. We recommend you find the time to visit - the church is more merorable than the cafes!

Discover the Church Saint-Germain-des-Prés

France This Way review: the Church Saint-Germain-des-Prés has a very beautiful interior, very colourful and brightly illuminated, and is perhaps our favourite church in Paris.

There has been a church in this location since the 6th century, making it the oldest large church in Paris. In the middle of the 6th century the abbey Sainte-Croix et Saint-Vincent was built for the King Childeberte and Saint-Germain, at that time the bishop of Paris.

The importance of the church at this time is clear: it was used as the place where the tombs of Kings were placed, although little remains of these now.

exterior of the Church Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Work on the church we see today started at the end of the 10th century, and the nave, the transept and the lower part of the belltower are from this period of construction and in the roman style of architecture.

The choir area, behind the transept, was added in the 12th century and is in the gothic style of church building that was popular at that time.

The abbey and church were an important centre during the Middle Ages: for example when the Black Death arrived in Paris in 1561, it was in the abbey Saint-Germain-des-Prés that King Charles IX and his mother Catherine de Médicis found protection, and from the 17th century it became a major centre for intellectuals to gather.

It was also during the 17th century that the impressive rib vaulted ceiling of the nave and transept was added.

Abbeys were no longer allowed in France after the Revolution and the church was used as a factory for about 10 years, before being re-established as a parish church in the early 19th century. Small vestiges of older abbey buildings can be seen in the small garden to the left of the entrance.

Much of the interior painting of the church took place in the 19th century. This covers almost every surface with paint, decoration and frescoes, and has been meticulously restored in recent years and is now the most striking aspect of a visit.

If you have only seen the church before the restoration we recommend you visit again, it is a very dramatic transformation.

We found the colours and decoration of the interior of the Church Saint-Germain-des-Prés to be very beautiful, but I understand that purists object to the way the original decorative elements such as the capital stones have been painted gold, and think the decoration of every surface in bright colours is a distraction from the architecture and the heritage: although medieval churches were often painted in bright colour, a decorative element remove during the Reformation. You will have to decide for yourself!

Pay particular attention to the carved capital stones inside the church, now painted gold. Many of these date from the 10th century and feature very impressive carvings of people, animals and other objects.

Columns in the nave of the Church Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Attractions nearby

There is a great deal to see in the Latin Quarter, mostly small shops and galleries. If you want to keep visiting churches, the Church Saint-Sulpice is a very large church (it is bigger that all the other churches in Paris with the exception of the Cathedral Notre-Dame) a short distance south of the Church Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

See more churches in France. You can find more travel ideas in the Paris region guide.

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