Howitzer

Today, Richard & Phil and I split up. R&P went to Versailles, while I went to see different cathedrals and churches all over Paris. We met up for dinner at Chez Denise, another highly recommended restaurant.

I rushed to get to Eglise de Saint Sulpice before noon, to try to catch Mass there. I didn‘t end up attending Mass, but I listened to the organist play for over an hour. The organ in Saint Sulpice has a very baritone voice; it was the voice of God calling for piety. Saint Sulpice was built between the 13th and 18th centuries, but I think most of the decorations inside are from the Renaissance period. The decorations feature a lot of classical elements, such as faux Corinthian columns carved into the walls. The church was made of white stone and was structured with large, sweeping open spaces. The entire style showed clean lines, orderly carvings; in a sense, everything was very logical, or “reasoned“. This embodies the Renaissance spirit, in my opinion. Saint Sulpice feels massive, eternal, and unshakeable to me. The columns towered over my head, while the ceiling covered the sky. It was as if the church embodied the authority of God, and forced to me to face my powerlessness.

Other things to mention about Saint Sulpice. It was made popular by Dan Brown’s infamous “The Da Vinci Code”, but is actually quite well known in Paris. The church is the second biggest, only slightly smaller than the Notre Dame. It is actually still unfinished; comparing the two towers, it’s clear that the south tower is missing portions.

The next church I visited was the Eglise de Saint Germain des Pres. It is actually the oldest church in Paris, though the original church structure is no longer here. Consecrated in the 6th century, St. Germain was enlarged in the 12th, and heavily damaged by fire in the French Revolution. Hm…it appears that St. Germain was the site of the September massacres, where hundreds of priests were rounded up and beheaded. Rivers of blood ran in the cobblestones in front of the church. The history is pretty bloody.

Architecturally, I wasn’t sure what to make of the church. The outside stone walls seemed very old. The main tower of the church showed signs of crumbling. Inside, the arches were not pointed, but nor did they seem post-Gothic classical. In addition, the faces in the glass artwork were kind of cocked downwards, a la medieval style. All of this pointed to pre-Gothic origin. However, certain portions of the church’s outside had large plain windows, which seemed to be more modern to me. Also, the vaults(ceiling) over head was ribbed, which is a Gothic feature. Furthermore, when I left the church, I saw flying buttresses in the rear of the church. I suppose this mash of architectural styles revealed St. Germain’s multiple renovations and additions.

A cool thing about St. Germain is that every surface was painted. The walls, columns, and ceiling were all painted. The ceiling even had stars painted on to them. Compared to St. Sulpice, St. Germain felt dark, dreary, and more restricted. St. Germain definitely felt old. My impression of St. Germain, was that it was built to remind you of the miseries in the physical world, and to force you to turn to God for salvation. That pretty much sums up my impression of the high medieval ages too, that the Church used God as a means to rise above the every day suffering of the times. It also happens that the 10th century is about when the most major renovations of St. Germain were made. This is my conjecture anyways.

My next church was Eglise de St. Etienne-du-Mont, right behind the Pantheon in Paris. St. Etienne is a clearly Neo-Classical church. Smack in the front of the church is a triangular thing which the name of eludes me at the moment. It looks like the front of the Parthenon. The insides of the church felt very enlightened. The columns were very round, and made of a very pure white stone. They were minimalist, without the fanciful and flowery Corinthian tops. Ribbed vaults (ceilings) were present, but they lacked the pointed arches present in the Gothic style. Instead, the ribs were rounded, so that they presented a smooth, continuous profile. Everything about the church suggested logic and order, although in a different way than St. Sulpice. Whereas St. Sulpice felt imposing with its stone structures, St. Etienne felt minimalist.
I also visited the Pantheon in Paris, although only the outside. I have to say, the Pantheon has amazing carvings on the outside. The Corinthian columns have some of the most detailed and life like carvings that I’ve seen. I also visited Eglise de Saint Gervais-et-Saint-Protais. I found this church to be eclectic, yet…strangely uninteresting. Maybe I was just burned out at the time, after 6 hours of church seeing. However, I did manage to catch Mass services there. The priests had waved smoke in the air before I got in, so I saw the haze wafting up towards the heavens while I listened to the chants being sung. This was definitely a cool experience. I’m not a religious person, but I have spirituality, and faith of some sort (I’m still trying to figure that out). I got to hear beautiful chants by the priests and nuns, and I witness some sort of ritual where all the Mass goers reached out to each other, and blessed each other. They even came to me, smiled and wished Christ with me, even though I was clearly just observing in the back.


And of course, daily dinner photos.


This has been a monster post about cathedrals, but I’m really only half way done. I’ll fill in about the Pantheon, Eglise de St. Denis, Notre Dame, and St. Chapelle later. Bear with me.

-Howitzer