Saint Germain des Prés GB

The Church of Saint-Germain des Prés

            The church and the monastery of Saint-Germain des Prés were built as the Cathedral Our Lady Of Paris and the church Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois during the more ancient age of Merovingian monarchy, that is to say when Childebert the 1^st , third son of Clovis and Ultrogothe, his wife, reigned in Paris from 511 to 538.

            Childebert, coming back of an expedition against the Wisigoths, brought back from Spain as a trophy of his victory the tunic of St Vincent, a golden cross conquered in Toleda and Salomon vases. After the council of St Germain, bishop of Paris, he built a church and a monastery there in order to receive and keep the relics. The day of Childebert’s death, in 558, St Germain dedicated the new church over the title of St Cross and St Vincent and was himself buried there when he died in 596.

            Soon, the St Vincent abbey was known over the name of St Germain and became the burial place of Merovingian Queens and Kings.

            From the abbey, as you can see, there are just some rests and the church itself, but without the Merovingian burials which are now in St Denis abbey. The church was cruelly deteriorated. It was burnt 3 times and ruined by the Normans and was rebuilt by King Robert in the first years of the XIth century (from 1001 to 1014).

            Unfortunately for the moment we can’t see the interior of the church because there is the mass but I will tell you some things about it.

            The church is in Latin cross but its crosspieces are very short compared with the length of the nave. His height is of 19m. The nave has 5 bays, it was rebuilt by Robert the 2^nd, first of all in 1644, and then from 1820 to 1824 and restored once again by Napoleon the 3^rd. The capitols of lateral arches of the nave were redone as the ancient.

            The choir stayed the same. On the top of it there is a gallery with marble columns. The capitols represent humans head, lions, leaves and birds. The nave is lighted by high windows. The St Symphorien chapel was the place where St Germain was buried. The entrance was in the right wing but now it is closed.

            During the last restoration, the whole church, from the vault to the walls were painted with different colors over the orders of the architect Baltard. The columns and the capitols are painted too.

            The church as you can see has just one ancient stained glass window remaining. The windows are now in tainted crystal.

            You can also see that the old church begins with a little porch built in the 18^th century and a big square tower which was before the Year Thousand but the last floor was built in the 12^th century and this is what we call the bell tower. The roof has an arrow key with slates.

            The North side of the church is isolated by the abbey street which was open in the year 8 on the cloister. Of this cloister there is just the right wing remaining rested against the left wing of the church. In the cloister, there was the Library of St Germain des Prés, the more important  of Paris opened to the public in the period.