Église Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

Paris (5e arrondissement)

Geneviève, born at Nanterre around 420 and dead at Paris between 502 and 512, was buried on this hill, in the basilica that Clovis had had raised there; the abbey that later bore her name was demolished in 1802, and nothing remains of it but the so-called tower of Clovis, in the courtyard of the neighbouring lycée. It is to her that tradition, gathered in a Life written around 520, attributes the raising, around 475, of the first basilica over the tomb of Saint Denis: without her there would be neither royal abbey nor necropolis. Her reliquary was carried through Paris at every calamity for eleven centuries; in 1793 the relics were burned on the place de Grève and the ashes thrown into the Seine. Her tombstone, empty, was brought in 1803 into the neighbouring church, where it is still the object of devotion; a few surviving bones are kept there. Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, built from 1492 to 1626 by the parishioners on ground ceded by the monks, keeps the only stone rood screen surviving in Paris, carved around 1530, and the tombs of Pascal and Racine.

Wikipédia — Église Saint-Étienne-du-Mont de Paris ↗

Getting there : Métro Cardinal-Lemoine or RER Luxembourg; the church is on the corner of the rue Clovis, behind the Panthéon. Open every day except Monday outside services, free entry. The tour Clovis can be seen from the rue Clovis; the lycée Henri-IV, which occupies the abbey buildings, can be visited only on the heritage days.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound