Checking Out Parisian Churches Quiz

Answer: Sainte-Chapelle

King Louis IX commissioned this chapel, part of the royal palace on the Île de la Cité, of which it is one of the earliest remaining parts. He built the chapel as an appropriate place to store his relics, including (what was claimed to be) the Crown of Thorns worn by Christ at his crucifixion. The chapel was consecrated in 1248, and is considered a classic example of the architectural style called Rayonnant Gothic. This style focused on lots of light, and Saint-Chapelle is noted for its glorious stained glass windows. There seems to be more window than wall. Sadly, there has been a lot of damage over the years, but the windows have been faithfully restored so visitors can still marvel at them.

The windows in the nave display Old Testament scenes, starting with Genesis and proceeding through much of the historical section. There are multiple stories in each of the fifteen massive windows that line the nave and the eastern apse, some of them including literally hundreds of different scenes. Eleven windows relate Old Testament events, starting with Genesis and covering the history of the Jewish people up to the time of Christ, which is the subject of the three windows in the eastern apse. The final window in the series shows events relating to the discovery of the relics whose house the chapel was designed to be, and their journey to Saint-Chapelle. On the western wall, the Rose Window has 79 panels depicting events from the Book of Revelation.

Answer: L'église Saint-Eustache

The first church on the site of L'église Saint-Eustache was built in the early 13th century, but it was replaced by the current one, starting in 1532 and finally finishing in 1637. Over the years it has been the church of choice for a number of celebrities: Louis XIV received his first communion there, Molière was both baptised and married there, and Mozart chose it as the venue for his mother's funeral.

The church's organ is located at the west end of the church, along the wall and facing the pulpit. It has 8,000 pipes, making it the largest in Paris, and possibly in all of France. In 1855 Berlioz chose it for the premiere of his work 'Te Deum', which requires an organ to perform on equal footing with the entire rest of the orchestra. The original organ has been modified several times, and was almost completely rebuilt in 1989, with only some of the pipes and the wooden case that encloses them remaining from the original.

Answer: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris

While Paris is full of Roman Catholic churches, this is the only cathedral (which means it is the seat of a bishop). It is one of the best extant examples of French Gothic architecture (including being one of the earliest to use flying buttresses), and its western facade is one of the standard postcard images of Paris.

The iconic gargoyles and chimeras have lost most of the paint that coloured them when the cathedral was completed in the middle of the 14th century. Victor Hugo used the cathedral as the setting for his 1831 story of Quasimodo, a hunchbacked bell-ringer in the cathedral who has been deafened by his work, and his love for the gypsy girl Esmeralda.

In the original story, it ends tragically - many stage and cinema adaptations have chosen to change that.

Answer: L'église Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

Jean Racine is also buried in the church, while Jean-Paul Marat is interred in the church's cemetery. The first chapel on the site of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève was built in the 6th century, and dedicated to St. Geneviève. In the 13th century a new church was constructed on the north side of the chapel, and dedicated to Saint-Étienne.

This church has been expanded and redveloped several times in the centuries since then. In 1793, in the fervor of the French Revolution, the relics of St. Geneviève were removed from the chapel, and thrown in the sewers.

Answer: L'église Saint-Sulpice

Saint-Sulpice is not only the second-largest church in Paris (smaller only than Notre Dame), it also is the only Parisian church with a gnomon, a complex structure that measures time using a combination of an obelisk, a window and a meridian line. It was built in the 18th century under the supervision of the parish priest, who wanted to be sure the bells were being rung at the right times. Like many other churches, it was extensively damaged during the French Revolution.

As part of the restoration, Eugène Delacroix painted several of the murals in the Chapel of the Holy Angels.

Answer: Le Dôme des Invalides

Originally the royal chapel of the complex known as the Invalides, the Dôme was redesigned between 1840 and 1861 to house the crypt, placed directly under the top of the dome, of Napoleon Bonaparte when his remains were returned to France from Saint Helena.

The tombs of several members of his family, as well as a number of French military figures, are also in Les Invalides. These include Henri Gatien Bertrand, who was responsible for the return of Napoleon's remains, and Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, the author of 'La Marseillaise".

Answer: American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity

The Episcopalian Church is an American church, established to be independent of the Church of England, but participant in the Anglican Communion of churches. There aren't many Episcopalian churches in Europe, but there are some, mostly established to meet the needs of expatriate Americans.

Other Episcopalian parishes are located in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France. Parisian Episcopalians first established formal meetings in the 1830s, and this church was built for their use in the 1880s.

The church was officially consecrated on the same day as the dedication of the Statue of Liberty.

Answer: Cathédrale Saint-Alexandre-Nevsky

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was consecrated in 1861, its construction having been partially funded by a gift from Tsar Alexander II. Since the Russian Revolution, it has not been officially recognised by the Patriarch of Moscow (the Russian Orthodox Church), but it is the see of the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe, under the dominion of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. That is, they are in the tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church, but operate independently. Who would have imagined that a church could be the subject of political dispute? Or maybe that's not so odd, after all.

It was the church chosen by Pablo Picasso for his marriage to Olga Khokhlova in 1918.

Answer: L'église de la Madeleine

More formally known as L'église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, this church was built at the instruction of Napoleon Bonaparte to be a 'Temple de la Gloire de la Grande Armée' (Temple to the Glory of the Great Army), and replaced an earlier church on the same site, which had been demolished during the French Revolution. Later in the 19th century it was once again converted into a church, and its pediment (the relief sculpture inside the triangular section between the top of the Corinthian columns that surround the church and the pitched roof on the front face) designed to depict The Last Judgment, with Mary interceding on behalf of humanity.

Answer: Basilique du Sacré-Coeur

The foundation stone of Sacré-Coeur was laid in 1875, on a site that had been commandeered for the purpose by a law decreeing it to be a 'matter of public utility', as it was planned to help bridge the gap between church and state that had been growing during the 19th century. Construction was not complete until 1914, and the basilica was not consecrated until 1919. Even during construction, starting in 1885, there has been a Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

This means that there is a consecrated host held in a monstrance near the high altar, and people have made sure that there is always someone engaged in prayer or meditation in front of it. Visitors need to be respectful of this - even when there is no service, there is active prayer underway.