DK Travel : Paris : History & Culture

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St-Eustache

For centuries, this monumental Gothic edifice was the “market church” serving the traders of Les Halles. Taking more than 100 years to build, it was finally completed in 1637 and its cavernous interior displays the architectural style of the early Renaissance. Popular Sunday afternoon organ recitals and other classical concerts take place in this wonderfully atmospheric setting.
St-Germain l’uxerrois

When the Valois kings moved to the Louvre palace in the 14th century (see Musée du Louvre), this became the church of the royal family. On 24 August 1572, the tolling of its bell was used as the signal for the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, when thousands of Huguenots who had come to Paris for the wedding of Henri of Navarre to Marguerite of Valois were murdered (see Marguerite of Valois). The church features a range of architectural styles, from its Flamboyant Gothic façade to its Renaissance choir. Try and visit on Sunday afternoon when there are organ recitals.
St-Louis-en-l’Ile

This lovely Baroque church on Ile St-Louis was designed between 1664 and 1726 by the royal architect Louis Le Vau. The exterior features an iron clock (1741) at the entrance and an iron spire, while the interior, richly decorated with gilding and marble, has a statue of St Louis holding his Crusader’s sword.
St-Médard

The church at the bottom of rue Mouffetard dates back to the 9th century, when it was a parish church dedicated to St Médard, counsellor to the Merovingian kings. The present church, completed in 1655, is a mixture of Flamboyant Gothic and Renaissance styles. Among the fine paintings inside is the 17th-century St Joseph Walking with the Christ Child by Francisco de Zurbarán. The churchyard was the scene of hysterical fits in the 18th century, when a cult of “convulsionnaires ” sought miracle cures at the grave of a Jansenist deacon.
St-Sulpice

Begun in 1646, this enormous church unsurprisingly took 134 years to build. Its Classical façade by the Florentine architect Giovanni Servandoni features a two-tiered colonnade and two incongruously matched towers. Notice the two holy water fonts by the front door, made from huge shells given to François I by the Venetian Republic. Jacob Wrestling with the Angel and other splendid murals by Delacroix (1798–1863) are in the chapel to the right of the main door.
St-Sulpice

Outstanding frescoes in the Chapel of the Angels by Eugène Delacroix are the highlight of this 17th-century church’s otherwise sober interior. With more than 6,500 pipes, its organ, designed by Jean-François Chalgrin in 1776, is one of the largest in the world. The novelist Victor Hugo married Adèle Foucher here in 1822.
Stables of the King

The magnificent stables have been restored and they now house the famous Zingaro equine training academy.
The Banners

The BannersA fine collection of 17th–20th-century banners is displayed in the east wing. Closed until 2008.
The Hall of Mirrors

The spectacular 70-m (233-ft) long Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) is one of the few rooms at Versailles that can be visited without a guide. It was in this room that the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, to formally end World War I. Renovation is scheduled for 2007.
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Better known by its English title, which inspired a film of the same name, Victor Hugo’s Gothic novel was published in France in 1831 as Notre-Dame de Paris . Set in the Middle Ages, it tells the strange and moving story of a hunchback bell-ringer Quasimodo and his love for Esmeralda (see The Man Who Saved Notre-Dame).