SAINT SULPICE CHURCH
One of the places to include on any visit to Paris, would
be the Church of Saint Sulpice, the famous location of the Da Vinci
Code. This famous church is located in the same district as the Church
of Saint Germain-des-Pres. As this arrondissenaent extends from the
Seine all the way to the Bd de Montparnasse, it also includes the Luxembourg
Gardens.
Saint Sulpice Church was started in 1646 by an architect by the name
of Le Vau and that it was not finally completed until some one hundred
thirty-four years later, after six different architects had worked on
it. By the year 1733, all that remained to be built of Saint Sulpice's
was the facade, and then it was decided, as so often happens in churches
that are a long time in the building -and the wonder is that it did
not happen more often-to change its style. The interior had been built
in the Jesuit style, but when the Italian architect Servandoni was commissioned
to build the facade, he built it in the classical style, and that is
the facade you see there now-with certain exceptions.
The interior of Saint Sulpice, which is 394 feet long, one hundred eighty-seven feet wide and ninety-eight feet high. Many of the frescoes in this church were painted by Delacroix. Also of interest are the two benitiers or holy water vessels, which consist of giant seashells and were a gift from the Republic of Venice to Francis I. But to the lover of music, the chief attraction of Saint Sulpice will always be its famous organ and choir. Its organ is the largest in Europe, and both the music and the choir have been praised by French writers for generations.
The ancestor of the telegraph, the Chappe system had a fixed place on the roof until 1850. Baudelaire and the marquis de Sade were baptized in this church. Victor Hugo got married here.
The Rose Line, a narrow brass strip, marks the original zero-longitude line, which passed through Paris before begin moved to Greenwich, England. Silas the monk uses the line as a reference point in his quest for the Holy Grail. You can retrace his path from the stone statue north across the nave and transept to an obelisk next to the statue of St Peter. The Astronomical Gnomen in église Saint-Sulpice was commissioned in order to determine the exact date of easter, and the winter and summer equinoxes.
Address
Place Saint Sulpice
75006 Paris
How to get there
Metro : Line 10 Odeon
RER B : Luxembourg
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