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100 Churches in Paris and elsewhere

Being a leading world expert in ... something else entirely (really), I started this blog to accompany my walking round Paris visiting churches (occasional guest appearances from synagogues mosques etc), walks initially decided just because I need more exercise. Very little technical vocab, but some good views. Many of the churches are in Paris, but many are churches I went to on my various trips. We are talking relaxed browsing round churches here, not comprehensive analysis.

18 Ss Peter and Paul, San Francisco

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- juillet 04, 2022

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50. Montreal, Basilica of Notre Dame. Coolest Gothic revival pulpit

- février 27, 2023

Montreal, Basilica of Notre Dame. Coolest Gothic revival pulpit The wikipedia article says that the interior of the church is « one of the most dramatic in the world », and dead Gothic. Gets eleven million visitors a year, and last year I was one of them. My favourite ever pulpit. If you’re gonna preach Good News About Eternal Life, you might as well do it perched on some decent furniture. The stained glass windows here don’t bother with Bible stories, but depict scenes from the history of Montreal. The other major highlight is the extra chapel behind the altar through a corridor, which is has a modern bronze altar piece which is totally stunning. It represents humanity’s journey towards God, passing through childhood, adulthood and old age. In this chapel, the Stations of the Cross are well worth a look. Information in French Information in English Information in Armenian

72 London - Saint Paul's Cathedral: Cool people commemorated, but bloody Empire heroes too.

- septembre 24, 2023

Saint Paul’s Cathedral London. I seem to be visiting churches a lot faster than I am finding the time to write them up; I have a real backlog. Anyway it was great to visit Saint Paul’s cathedral, one of the four cathedrals in London if I remember correctly (two for the protestants two for the catholics - but I am probably missing some orthodox cathedral). It was Christopher Wren who was the architect, and it was built as the first Anglican cathedral on the site - previously they had just recycled Catholic hand-me-downs. His advisors, and the committees, wanted him to be sure to make it not too Catholic. So, no stained glass, and no statues, monuments etc. However, in later centuries, once they got less scared of us Catholics, the statues and monuments came by the dozens - and indeed the 20th century high altar looks like it was looted from the Vatican itself. Lots of people got monuments, mainly heroes of the bloody British Empire, like Wellington. He has the biggest monume...

86 Paris, Montmartre, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The Gospel is sport!

- décembre 21, 2023

86 Paris, Montmartre, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart This tremendously famous church, which towers over Montmartre in Paris, is more directly political than most. It is often said to have been built as revenge against the Paris Commune, an insurrection during which the workers controlled Paris for a couple of months and showed the wonderful possibilities of workers’ power before being massacred by the authorities. This is not 100% true, in that the plans to build this church were decided before the Paris Commune. Nevertheless, the right wingers of the time certainly presented the church, and the worship of the sacrament in it as penance for the terrible sin of workers’ insurrection. As a result the church is cordially detested by many left wing activists in France (even more than the significant minority of left activists here who cordially detest any religious building). Shortly after the building of the church, it was the site of the National Vow, which again was a very co...

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Posts les plus consultés de ce blog

50. Montreal, Basilica of Notre Dame. Coolest Gothic revival pulpit

- février 27, 2023

Montreal, Basilica of Notre Dame. Coolest Gothic revival pulpit The wikipedia article says that the interior of the church is « one of the most dramatic in the world », and dead Gothic. Gets eleven million visitors a year, and last year I was one of them. My favourite ever pulpit. If you’re gonna preach Good News About Eternal Life, you might as well do it perched on some decent furniture. The stained glass windows here don’t bother with Bible stories, but depict scenes from the history of Montreal. The other major highlight is the extra chapel behind the altar through a corridor, which is has a modern bronze altar piece which is totally stunning. It represents humanity’s journey towards God, passing through childhood, adulthood and old age. In this chapel, the Stations of the Cross are well worth a look. Information in French Information in English Information in Armenian

72 London - Saint Paul's Cathedral: Cool people commemorated, but bloody Empire heroes too.

- septembre 24, 2023

Saint Paul’s Cathedral London. I seem to be visiting churches a lot faster than I am finding the time to write them up; I have a real backlog. Anyway it was great to visit Saint Paul’s cathedral, one of the four cathedrals in London if I remember correctly (two for the protestants two for the catholics - but I am probably missing some orthodox cathedral). It was Christopher Wren who was the architect, and it was built as the first Anglican cathedral on the site - previously they had just recycled Catholic hand-me-downs. His advisors, and the committees, wanted him to be sure to make it not too Catholic. So, no stained glass, and no statues, monuments etc. However, in later centuries, once they got less scared of us Catholics, the statues and monuments came by the dozens - and indeed the 20th century high altar looks like it was looted from the Vatican itself. Lots of people got monuments, mainly heroes of the bloody British Empire, like Wellington. He has the biggest monume...

86 Paris, Montmartre, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The Gospel is sport!

- décembre 21, 2023

86 Paris, Montmartre, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart This tremendously famous church, which towers over Montmartre in Paris, is more directly political than most. It is often said to have been built as revenge against the Paris Commune, an insurrection during which the workers controlled Paris for a couple of months and showed the wonderful possibilities of workers’ power before being massacred by the authorities. This is not 100% true, in that the plans to build this church were decided before the Paris Commune. Nevertheless, the right wingers of the time certainly presented the church, and the worship of the sacrament in it as penance for the terrible sin of workers’ insurrection. As a result the church is cordially detested by many left wing activists in France (even more than the significant minority of left activists here who cordially detest any religious building). Shortly after the building of the church, it was the site of the National Vow, which again was a very co...

67 Charenton in the Paris suburbs : Saint Pierre : conflict between Church and State

- août 12, 2023

Just outside Paris, this 19th century church carries the inscription above the door : « Liberté Egalité Fraternité » the motto of the French Revolution. The inscription dates back to the conflict between the Church and left political forces at the end of the 19th century. The Church had a huge influence, particularly in education, and one of the huge battles of the day was to win a (relative) separation of Church and State. The conflict was very much calmed by the law of 1905 on laïcité, a law which in France everyone speaks about and noone has read. The law made all church buildings state owned, and ordered that they be leased back to the parishes almost free, and that the state would pay for repair and upkeep. The law also ruled on certain other conflicts, guaranteeing, for example, the right of churches to hold religious processions on public roads. Anyway, in the period before this when the conflict of ideas was very strong, the local government ordered (in 189...

92 Paris 5th arrondissement. St Etienne du Mont. Great tragedian buried here

- février 16, 2024

This church was finished in the 17th century, and stands just behind the Pantheon, where France’s great heroes are buried. During the French Revolution it was briefly converted into a Temple of Filial Piety, at the moment when the revolution was so ambitious it planned to replace the Christian religion (this was the time when they also set up the decimal ten hour day and made the clocks to go with it, so they were aiming high). In 1857 an archbishop was murdered in this church by a (defrocked) priest shouting “Down with Goddesses”! The bloke was upset about the relatively new idea that Mary, Mother of Jesus had been conceived without sin. Sainte Geneviève’s tomb is here (patron saint of Paris don’t you know), though it has been empty since the French Revolution. It is also the last church in Paris, I am told, where you can still find a jubé (a rood screen) separating the altar from the main bit. This is where you can see spiral stone staircases, which are most impressive. Ra...

59 Sao Roque church, Lisbon. Jesuit HQ.

- juin 26, 2023

This Lisbon church has plenty of gold leaf and gilt. Baroque altars, lots of relic holders for a bunch of saints. Also a solemn looking alms box. It was originally built because St Roch had a good reputation for warding off the Plague. It is the earliest Jesuit church in the Portuguese world, and was Jesuit HQ for 200 years (until the Jesuits got expelled from Portugal). It was one of the few buildings to survive the 1755 earthquake. And it has a Jesus carrying the cross statue with an impressive amount of hair. In front of the church is a statue of a 17th century Jesuit missionary (and literary star) protecting South American indigenous children. (No doubt not the whole story to say the very least, though he did work to oppose slavery). Information in English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igreja_de_S%C3%A3o_Roque Information in Portuguese https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igreja_de_S%C3%A3o_Roque_(Lisboa) Information in Tagalog https://tl.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...

76 - Paris 8th arrondissement- Saint Augustin

- octobre 12, 2023

Second half of the 19th century. Eclectic style - bit of Romanesque, bit of Byzantine. Innovative use of cast iron. There is a plaque commemorating the conversion of Charles de Foucauld, who became a successful Christian, ending up canonized. He worked as a missionary to the Touaregs and wrote the first translation dictionary for their language. There are a couple of very original modern statues, a very fine canopy, and a pulpit with two staircases. Information in French Information in English Information in Uzbek

106 - Paris 12th arrondissement -Church of the Holy Spirit. Half Byzantine, half reinforced concrete

- août 02, 2024

The Holy Spirit doesn’t have that many churches dedicated to it/him/her/them. Generally disguised as a dove or a tongue of flame, the Holy Spirit is the third bit of the Trinity. It is rather less well-defined than the other two bits : God the Father, creating universes quickly before having a day off, and God the Son, gurgling in the straw when he’s not bleeding out on the cross or giving moral guidance, bread and fish to large crowds. But there are people working hard to define the Holy Spirit more carefully. In Christian theology, pneumatology is the study of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Half of you think I am making this up, but I’m not. Anyway, Saint Peter and a bunch of others have more churches than him/her/it/them. This church is a twentieth century one in Paris, not far from the bookshop La Brèche ( https://la-breche.com/ ) It has kind of sepia frescoes on some of the walls, a colourful fresco of Saint Peter in his fave position, and a very origin...