My Favorite Church in Paris

Ok, there are, of course, all the regular suspects, but my favorite church in Paris is Saint Eustache.

I come to the neighborhod from time to time for kitchen gadgets at nearby E. Dellherin, or needle craft supplies at the INCREDIBLE Droguerie.

Upon approaching the church you will notice a rather large head nestled in some mammoth sized hands. Often garnished with tourists enjoying the photo op or kids climbing like monkeys, this is the work of French artist Henri de Miller.

The rest of the exterior is pretty standard gothic with flying buttresses et al. The interior continues the entire gothic theme with large vertical spaces, vaulted and ribbed arches. Ho hum.

But then there is the art. Contemporary art. They have a Keith Herring in there! There is a funky chandelier, too and a chapelle de la charcuterie (the deli chapel!).

Enjoy!

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Another great tip for this week-end. I%26#39;ve never been there before and we are just in the area. Thank you.

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And the organist plays Sundays at 5:30PM for 30 minutes before mass.

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The reason why they have a Keith Herring in Saint Eustache, is that at the height of the Aids epidemic, in the early 90s, it was sadly %26quot;Aids funeral central%26quot;. The curé there was one of the few in Paris to offer a sympathetic, non judgmental ear to the friends and family of the young men who just passed away. In the same perspective, all things considered, Saint Eustache is also home to a huge kitchen soup.

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Saint Eustache is also my favorite!!

Nikita

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If I recall correctly, GitteK recently raved about this church in one of her trip reports.

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Yes, ma%26#39;m:

Basilique de Saint Denis

Saint Eustache

Sainte Étienne-du-Mont

Saint Louis en Ile

Notre Dame ? Nope.......... too dark

Sacré Coeur ? Nope....... too much Christmas-gift-wrapping-paper

Val-de-Grace ? Well, ... heavy on the baroque-side, but interesting because of its history.

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I love the head in the hand sculpture just outside that church.

They have a beautiful organ at St. Eustache...

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Not only is the organ beautiful, it is world famous for its sound and for the acoustics in the church. The present organ is by the Dutch master van den Heuvel and was inaugurated in 1989.

Even if you don%26#39;t read French, you can enjoy the photos:

www.saint-eustache.org/edifice.html#musique

I have never been to a concert in this church, but if possible I will do next time. Imagine Mozart%26#39;s Requiem in these surroundings !

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It is a magnificent organ, but it%26#39;s rather sad that it exists at all. The old organ was played by (among others) List, Berlioz and Franck. In fact I think César Franck was the resident organist at St. Eustache. In the 1970s a total restoration of the organ was undertaken by a firm whose name I don%26#39;t recall but who are probably no longer in business. They botched the job so badly that the old organ had to be ripped out and replaced with the present splendid five-manual instrument.

The finest *old* organ in Paris is probably the one in St. Sulpice.

In that space maybe the Verdi or Berlioz Requiem rather than the Mozart? But if you want to show off the organ perhaps the Franck Symphony?

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St. Eustache is my favorite Paris church, as well. I can%26#39;t put my finger on it, but something about the church moves me to my soul, and I have stopped by there every time I%26#39;ve gone to Paris.

Oh, come to think of it it%26#39;s the combination of the side alter with the representation of the food merchants being driven out of Les Halles, the Keith Haring side chapel, the rich history of musicians at the church, the Henri de Miller head and hand sculpture l%26#39;Ecoute%26quot; and the general feeling that this magnificent church was under-apreciated and unloved, as compared to Notre Dame St. Sulpice, the (in my opinion) hideous Sacre-Couer. So I%26#39;m delighted to see here that other people love St. Eustache as much as I. And you can imagine my delighted surprise when on The Sopranos this past season, the church Carmela visits was not Notre Dame but St. Eustache.

My other favorite Paris church is Saint Pierre de Montmartre. Its simplicity and small scale beauty (especially its Gothic aspects) is extremely affecting and pretty much sum up to me what religion should be.