Church Saint-Merri
78,
rue Saint-Martin, Paris 75004
The name of this pretty church closed of Le Marais and the Beaubourg
district would come from an abbot named Saint-Médéric,
died here in year 700, canonized then renamed Saint-Merri by
contraction. The remainders of this saint are still kept in the
crypt of the church, under the northern part of the transept. If
it is thus well before the year thousand that the vault starts to leave
ground, we will have to wait until 1500 to see appearing the silhouette
with the flamboyant Gothic which we know, recalling a plan suggesting
widely that one of her older sister, Notre Dame. Here remains the
oldest bell of Paris, baptized Merry and melted in 1331. Saint-Merri
was a rich church in his time, furnished with a marble chorus, a
crowned splendid organ of five turrets remakes by clicquot in 1781 on
which Saint-Saens will compose his prestigious symphony with organ, a
large painting of Chassériau, "the life of Sainte-Marie the
Egyptian woman", a Blue Virgin painted by Van Loo. Today, beyond its
spiritual evocation, Saint-Merri has a formidable Parisian artistic
life since it regularly accommodates concerts and theater. One of
the prettiest churches spectacles of the capital.
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Parisbestlodge. Free photographies available in high resolution upon
request.