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St Germain Church - Paris 6th
History
The Church of St.Germain des Pres is the oldest of
Paris. According to a legend it was built in the 6th century by
Childebert I of Spain around the golden cross of Salomon and the
tunic of Saint Vincent. The church (as many churches in Paris) was
destroyed by the Normans (they used the wood to repair their drakkars!)
in the 9th century and rebuilt in the 11th. From then the abbey
will become very popular and attract a lot of wise men and scholars.
It seems that about 10,000 people lived in a small space inside
the walls surrounding as well the church as the Benedictine abbey.
Around the middle ages the abbey came under the direct orders of
the pope.
During the French revolution, the abbey had to suffer
a lot. Everything was looted, destroyed and burnt. Even the ancient
graves of the Merovingians had to disappear. And to complete the
disaster the library burnt down in 1794. Only great tower and the
choir of the 12th remain. So did the abbatial place (at the corner
of rue de l'Abbaye and rue du Passage de la Petite Boucherie). In
one of the chapels, decorated with a modern sculpture of St.Germanus,
you can easily spot some original elements of the early style of
the church. Left of the church a little square with a sculpture
of Picasso in honour of Apollinaire and ruins of a chapel of the
Virgin
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Nave of Saint Germain Church
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