Eglise Saint Paul Saint Louis Paris is a Jesuit church in central Paris, build in 1627 by King Louis XIII.
On the location where the current-day Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis church is located, there has been several spiritual buildings throughout times…
…all dedicated to the hermit Saint Paul, whose remains are buried on the deserts of Egypt.
Construction on the current Jesuit church (still dedicated to hermit Saint Paul) started in 1627, with King Louis XIII laying the foundation stone.
When the church was finished in 1641, the first mass here was held by the famous Cardinal Richelieu.
PHOTO: Saint Paul Saint Louis church, as seen from Rue de Sévigné.
Since the first mass by Cardinal Richelieu, the place became famous for having high profile preachers…
…including one of the most famous Jesuit preachers, Louis Bourdaloue, who held his best sermons at the Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in 1670-1693…with Madame de Sevigne present during ALL of them.
Apart from the preachers, the church also gained fame for its top-notch church music.
For example, Marc-Antoine Charpentier played the church organ here, from 1688 to 1698, but so did…
- Jean-Philippe Rameau,
- Andre Campra, and
- Louis Marchand.
The church was closed during the years of the French Revolution, but it was reopened in 1802, on the year of the concordat between the Catholic church and the French state.
When you visit the church, there are several architectural highlights to notice, including its 55 meter-tall-dome, done in French Gothic style.
For example, there are references to both Italian and French traditions, with the building most often compared to the main church of the Jesuits,Chiesa del Gesù, in Rome, Italy.
Another source of inspiration was, especially in terms of the facade, Eglise Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais, also in Paris, a design by Salomon de Brosse from 1618.