150 Churches in Paris and elsewhere

The church of “St Louis on the Island” is , well, on the island – one of the two islands in the River Seine, in the centre of Paris, just across the road from the amazing Berthillon ice cream parlour. It was mostly built in the 17 th century for Saint Louis, the only saint to have also had a day job as King of France (in the 13 th century). When he was King he banned trial by ordeal, which is cool, and fought on the seventh crusade, which was less so. Inside there is a twirly pulpit, relics of Saint Louis, and a very fine painting by Jacques Stella of Jesus getting baptized. There are also wooden statues of a series of saints, a beautiful alms box, and a plaque presented by the citizens of the town of Saint Louis over in Missouri, USA. One of the stained glass pieces shows Jesus rising from the dead, waving his flag. They do a mass in English once a week .

  160 Nottingham, England, St Peter’s Some parts of this church are 900 years old. Lovely iron decorative hinges on door. There is a rood cross, not so common in England, I don’t think, and a fine wooden pulpit. On the altar is a modern painting of a crucifix, and the abstract stained glass is remarkable. This is one of those churches which has been working at justly explaining the links of the Church of England with the horrors of slavery. There is a little exhibition explaining that the vicar of the time « owned » 220 enslaved Africans (on his plantation), and was given cash compensation when slavery was abolished. There is a list of the Africans’ names. Other signs of implication in social change include a poster for a campaign to erect more commemorative statues to women (only 5% of statues in UK public spaces, it explains, represent women).