This large silver-rimmed shell holds holy water in the oldest church in Paris, St-Germain-des-Pres. Originating in 542 when most of Paris was still swampy, it was mostly burned down during the French Revolution by the mobs. Remarkably, it was heavily restored in the 19 century and looks beautiful today. A powerful Benedictine Abbey in its day, it was built by the Merovingian ruler, King Childebert, to house holy relics. You can tell it is a much older church; beautiful original painted columns and walls retain original symbols painted in wonderful colors. I love this photo. St-Germain-des-Pres, given its age, has seen many great and horrific moments in Parisian history, but is worth a visit. One famous tomb includes that of Rene Descartes.
5 comments:
Yes, that photo is amazing! Took my eyes a second to figure it out ... thought I was looking through a hole and then realized it was a reflection ... beautiful. What an interesting place. Hope I can get there some day!
It is a wonderful church with lots of nice concerts too! Very original, your picture of the reflection in the holy-water stoup!
Lovely!! Love these Paris posts. I went to school there for a couple of semesters...loved roaming those streets!
Linda@Lime in the coconut
Absolutely stunning. Your beautiful photos of Paris have me longing to get back....
happy weekend!
joan
so pretty... love the shell with Holy Water...
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