Church
Saint-Roch
296,
rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris
The construction of the Saint-Roch
Church begins in 1653, under the wish of the king Louis XIV and in the
presence of its Anne mother of Austria. The plans of the project are
signed by Jacques Mercier, the architect of the Sorbonne. They
wanted to built one of the hugest churches of Paris, 126 meters
long. But after seven years of work, only the transept and the
last span of the nave were built. Without enough money to
continue, the building site will start again in 1701 under the
authority of Jules Hardouin Mansart who will complete the back of the
chorus of the Vault of the Virgin. New interruption. It will be
necessary to wait until 1719 and one providential gift of the Law
banker so that the third stage leads to the completion of the
church. It is Robert de Cotte who will give him his final
frontage in 1753. Representative of the french baroque style
baroque, it is decorated with doric columns for the lower part,
overcome columns corinthiennes in its high part. Between 1750 and
1770, the priest of the church, Jean-Baptiste Marduel, will improve
himself the interior decoration of the imposing monument by soliciting
excellent artists, falconet, Vien, Doyen, Boullée. Today
still, this church preserves a great number of masterworks, paintings
and sculptures, recovered in other churches destroyed after the storm
of the French revolution. Each one of its vaults is a small
museum. Saint-Roch keeps in memory some great events such as the
creation of the Solemn Mass of Berlioz on July 10, 1825. The
Clicquot organ dates from the middle of the XVIIth century.
