Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Paris (6e arrondissement)

Childebert I, son of Clovis, founded around the middle of the 6th century, outside the walls of Paris, a basilica dedicated to the Holy Cross and to Saint Vincent; it was dedicated around 558, and Germain, bishop of Paris, who died in 576, would later give it his name. For nearly a century it was here and not at Saint-Denis that the kings had themselves buried: Childebert himself, Chilperic I, Chlothar II and their kin. Dagobert's choice, around 639, would tip the prestige towards the north, and the abbey of the left bank would become something else: a house of study. From 1631 the reformed Benedictines of the congregation of Saint-Maur settled there and made of it one of the great scholarly workshops of Europe; it is there that Dom Jean Mabillon published in 1681 the De re diplomatica, which founds the criticism of charters — the very science that makes it possible to recognise a forgery, and that would dispose of the 9th-century constructions about the identity of Saint Denis. The 11th-century porch tower and the choir consecrated in 1163 are what the visitor sees first; the conventual buildings were destroyed in 1794.

Wikipédia — Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés ↗

Getting there : Métro Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the church faces the square. Open every day, free entry. Of the monastery there survive the abbot's palace (1586) in the rue de l'Abbaye and a stretch of wall in the square Laurent-Prache, behind the chevet.

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

Ambient sound