Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois

On Place du Louvre, at the east end of the Louvre, are the Mairie of the first arrondissement and the former royal parish church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, dedicated to St Germanus, bishop of Auxerre.

The present church shows a mixture of styles, with a Romanesque tower (12th C), from which the bells tolled to signal the Massacre of St Bartholomew on August 24, 1572, a Gothic choir (13th C), a nave and porch in Flamboyant (Late Gothic) style and a Renaissance doorway (1570). The finest feature is the porch (1435-39), a striking example of Late Gothic architecture. In the interior, note the fine stalls (by Le Brun, 1684) for the royal family.

Many artists who worked for the French kings of the 17th and 18th centuries are buried in this church, among them the architects Louis Le Vau and Robert de Cotte, the painters François Boucher, van Loo, Jean-Siméon Chardin and Jean-Marc Nattier and the sculptors Antoine Coysevox and the brothers Nicolas and Guillaume Coustou.