Saint-Eustache

Some of you suggested that I should now offer you a lunch or dinner at “Lipp”. I’m sorry, but immediately after Saint-Germain-des-Prés, there will be another church - Saint-Eustache, some 500 years younger; the construction started in 1532 and lasted for about 100 years. The facade was rebuilt during the 18th century and the church was restored in 1844 after a fire, by Baltard, especially known for the creation of “les Halles”, the central market place in Paris, torn down in 1972-73.
As you can see, the church is situated very close to what still is called “les Halles” and it’s also close to rue Montorgueuil (on which I recently posted), which starts at the back end of this church.

The church represents a mixture of gothic and renaissance style.

Molière was baptized and got married in this church and Louis XIV received his communion here. You can find a lot of paintings, including by Rubens. Among the tombs, you can find the one of Colbert, great statesman and minister of finance, who managed to keep the French finances more or less afloat despite big expenditures by Louis XIV for wars and for the building of Versailles.

The church’s musical tradition is very strong; Lully and Rameau performed here and the premieres of Berlioz’s “Te Deum” and Liszt’s “Messiah” took place in this church. Rameau is buried here. I don’t know if Mozart played at Saint Eustache, but he organized the funeral of his mother. A lot of concerts are still given. The organ has been completely rebuilt in recent years and is considered as one of the biggest and best in the world.In front of the church you can find a different kind of sculpture, called “l’Ecoute” (see photo bottom right on the first patchwork). If you want to know something more about it, I can refer to a recent post by Cergie.

Some of the pictures can be found on my photo blog.

I have visitors around I may not find the time to post tomorrow, nor to visit your blogs as I usually try to do, … so I wish you already now a nice weekend!