An afternoon promenade

Dear Everyone,

As an absence of students this afternoon meant I had some time to myself and two rehearsals at choir this week made me decide to go to only one, I went off on a discovery mission of the 5th arrondissement, which is fast becoming one of my favourite areas in Paris. First stop: Hôtel Le Brun at 49, rue du Cardinal-Lemoine. It was built in 1701 by Nicolas St-Denis under the watchful eye of the architect Germain Boffrand, a student of Mansart. Destined to Charles II Le Brun, an auditor at the 'Cour des comptes' and nephew of the painter Charles Le Brun, it was built respecting the rule of Vitruve's 'nombre d'or' (see http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nombre_d%27or but it's no good asking me for details). Watteau (French painter http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Watteau) spent the last three years of his life here from 1718. It really is a beautiful little chateau more than a house and inspired by the image of Chateau d'Issy (Pierre Bullet, 1681, no longer standing). It has the loveliest garden protected from the rest of the world by a fence and wrought iron gate. On the facade (garden side) are sculptures by Anselme Flamen, marvellously preserved, which ornate the building with fleurs de lys and sunshines. The architecture is very simple indeed, with little fuss. This was, apparently, a characteristic of Germain Boffrand (1667-1754). This hôtel particulier was one of the first of a new kind of house - a kind of city holiday home of sorts! Enough space to provide luxury and beautiful simplicity which people liked way back then for its proportions and chosen decor. It's rather a severe style, but I like it. It has elegance and grace, not a bit ostentatious...and it says on Wikipedia that it became a reference for architects of the neo-classic period.

Next stop, Eglise St. Jacques-du-Haut-Pas in rue St. Jacques...this doesn't mean that his 'pas' were high - did they have platform shoes in the 17th century, anyway?! Maybe, to step over all the yuck in the streets. I digress, as usual. It actually means that HE wasn't high, ie. he was a lowly chap, not snotty in the least and a wholly likeable bloke. The land it's built on belonged to monks originally from Altopascio in Italy from 1180 - et voilà, the origin of such a strange name. In spite of their order being oppressed by Pious II in 1459, some of the brothers decided to sit it out and hope for the best. Around the order were fields and meadows sprinkled with a few lowly peasant dwellings and some religious estabishments. Catherine de Medicis installed the Benedictines of St. Magloire there in 1572, who'd been thrown out of their order on rue St. Denis. The relics of St. Magloire along with their followers were thus transferred to what then became a convent. St. Magloire, better known by the name St. Magloire de Dol (er...never 'eard of it) was a Gall who became bishop of Dol de Bretagne in Brittany, and who ended his days on the island of Sercq. His relics were transported to Paris in 923 when the Normans attacked Brittany. They were buried (the relics, not the Normans) secretly during the Revolution and not unearthed again until 1835 when a new altar was being installed.

In 1620, the Oratoriens replaced the Benedictines and it became known as the seminary of St. Magloire. Jean de la Fontaine was a brother there.

There's an impressive array of 'residents' here, too, quietly resting in peace, amongst them Jean-Dominique Cassini (Italian astronomer and engineer nationalised in 1673) and Denis Cochin, founder of the hospital here in Paris of the same name. See also http://www.landrucimetieres.fr/spip/spip.php?article262               

The organ in this church is simply gorgeous. Wikipedia says it's a Kern. I'd love to have heard a recital on it. Saint Saens or Handel would have been just the job though anything would do just to hear the power of such an impressive looking instrument. The stained glass windows are stunning too - the last supper and Christ telling Peter he's the rock (a moot point! That Pierre...) and on that rock he'll build his church... Wished I'd had more time to spend here.

Next stop...oh, diviiiiine! The St. Ursula's chapel at Place de la Sorbonne. Now then, how many times have I sat there on the square in one of those café's waiting for friends (Christine springs to mind specifically) and never bothered to go and have a root around in this beautiful place? It's mind-numbing. Really. What a heathen! Reconstructed in the 17th century by Lemercier (1586-1654) under the order of Richelieu, St. Ursula's chapel has the most elegant of domes and a beautiful facade. It looks more like a Greek temple with its Corinthian columns and four statues (St. Thomas of Aquin, Pierre Lombard, Bossuet and Gerson). The tomb of Richelieu inside is grandiose to say the least, sculpted by Girardon. Pillaged during the revolution, there's not a lot left to see in the chapel of its former glory, though there is the most awe-inspiring cross and lovely altar dating from the Restauration visible next to Richelieu's resting place.

My final port of call this evening was 95, rue de Sevres, metro Vaneau, to the chapel of the priests of the Lazarist mission for St. Vincent de Paul's shrine. The chapel with its rather plain facade is a very well recently-restored 19th century building, apparently. As a replacement for the St. Lazare priory on rue du Fbg St. Denis, the priests of the mission were given this, the former Hôtel de Lorges after the Revolution. The chapel was built on that very site (1826-7).

The stained-glass windows tell the biography of St. Vincent de Paul. Born on April 24th, 1581 in Pouy near Dax, he was ordained priest in 1600 and devoted his life to both study and adventure (my kind of guy). Captured on one of his trips, he was sold as a slave in Tunis. He converted his master, escaped and managed to get back to Paris in one piece where he became chaplain to Queen Marguerite de Valois (whose marriage to the future Henri IV was one of the causes of the St. Bartholomé massacre - oops). He had a few career moves after that, but in 1617, very moved by the poverty he saw around him, he founded the 'Brotherhood of Charity' in Chatillon-les Domes: people throughout the world benefited from it. "Mr Vincent" died on September 27th, 1660 and was canonised by Pope Clement XII in 1737.

A nice saint indeed (are there any that are not nice?) and the chapel is a stunning. There's a lovely Cavaillé-Coll organ for a start, a series of paintings by 'Brother Francois' who was, so it is said, a pupil of Ingres, and above all, a silver shrine which almost clouts you on the nose as soon as you enter, in which the relics of St. Vincent de Paul are preserved. The shrine itself is a life-like wax statue dressed in priestly garb and holding a cross which St. Vincent may have used to comfort Louis XIII during the last hours of his life. Here's the official parish site of the church: http://www.paroissesvp.fr/ and here's a Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Vincent-de-Paul_church,_Paris

After all that, I had to go and have a cup of coffee to get my thoughts together. So much triumphant and impressive largeness in sacred places kind of made my head feel spaghettified. But nothing an expresso on the rue de Sevres couldn't fix. I raced home to get it down on paper as soon as I possibly could before my notes ceased to make any sense!

Now, a little snack and the news on TV before my nightly trip to Hamden. Oof. I'm fair pooped! How glorious it is to just meander my way along the streets of Paris with a vague sense of where I'm going (but only just!) - I never know where I'll end up and that gives my touristic expeditions far more adventure. How wonderful to know that you're with me, experiencing these marvellous sights, too! Hurry to Paris!

With love, Sarah xox