Église Saint-Augustin — Attraction in Paris

The church was built between 1860 and 1871 , in the  district of Little Poland , currently Place Saint-Augustin in the 8th arrondissement of Paris . At the time of the Second Empire , this district changed with a demographic influx leading to the construction of buildings. The prefect Haussmann had wide rectilinear avenues laid out. Crossroads call for prestigious buildings.

In January 1867 , Abbé Langénieux was transferred to the cure of the Saint-Augustin church. This new district of the capital saw rising on its broad boulevards, around the church of original style then under construction, the luxurious residences of an aristocratic society. He accelerated the progress of work on the church, had the vast presbytery built where the parish priest and twenty vicars found a simple but comfortable and well-appointed dwelling.

Napoleon III decided that the crypt of the church would house the tombs of the princes of the imperial family, that of the emperors and empresses should remain in the basilica of Saint-Denis  . Eventually the Emperor died in exile in England and was buried with his wife and son at St. Michael's Abbey ( Farnborough )

The desire to build this prominent edifice has a downside, however. Located at the crossroads of boulevard Haussmann and boulevard Malesherbes , both very busy, and what is more in a cobbled area, this church is undoubtedly one of the noisiest in Paris, the noise of the traffic remaining very present at the interior of the nave, which is not conducive to contemplation.

It was in this church that Charles de Foucauld converted in 1886 , who was influenced by the vicar of this parish, Abbé Huvelin , and that theApril 8, 1890 Edmond Rostand married Rosemonde Gérard . At this time, the church organist was the composer Eugène Gigout .

The facade of the church was restored betweenSeptember 2016andJanuary 2018for an amount of 4.2 million euros financed by the city of Paris and the Ministry of Culture. The church nevertheless remains in a disastrous state: the dome has been hidden by a net for years to prevent stones from falling; two of the spandrels painted by Émile Signol have been removed because they were detached and are stored, rolled up, on the gallery of the left arm of the transept; and on June 19, 2021, it was raining heavily...

The Church of Saint-Augustin (Église Saint-Augustin) is a unique architectural and historical monument. Built between 1860 and 1871 by architect Victor Baltar, it became the first major religious building in Paris to use a visible cast iron and steel metal frame combined with stone cladding. This innovative approach for its time made it possible to create an impressive interior space without traditional buttresses, giving the building an unusual appearance at the junction of industrial and eclectic styles. The church was conceived as part of Baron Haussmann's urban planning scheme for the transformation of Paris, and it was intended to serve as an architectural landmark at the intersection of the Boulevard Malherbe and the Boulevard Haussmann, completing the perspective from the direction of the Madeleine Church. With its 80-meter-high dome and 100-meter-long structure, Saint-Augustin is one of the largest churches in the city. The architectural style of Saint-Augustin is eclectic, combining elements of Romanesque, Byzantine, and Gothic architecture. The facade is adorned with an 8-meter-diameter stained-glass rose, reinforced with cast-iron armature. Inside, the gilded cast-iron columns, decorated with polychrome angels by Louis Schroeder, and the dome paintings by William Bouguereau, are noteworthy. One of the unique features of the church is its layout: the building has a trapezoidal shape, where the chancel is wider than the facade, and the side chapels gradually expand as they approach the choir. The church is also famous for its musical organs: the main organ, created by Charles Spackman Barker, was one of the first in the world to use electricity, and has 54 registers. Napoleon III planned to make this church the burial place of the...

Haussmann's Plan During the reign of Napoleon III in the 1850s and 60s Paris experienced a dramatic transformation under the direction of Georges-Eugène Haussmann. Haussmann cut many boulevards through the crowded, medieval city placing prominent public buildings at the boulevard ends to provide impressive vistas. The boulevard Malesherbes was laid out cutting northwest from La Madeleine. Saint-Augustin, close to the spot where Haussmann was born, was built to provide a counterpoint to the famous columns of La Madeleine at the other end of the boulevard. It was also designed to be visible from the Arc de Triomphe down the avenue de Friedland. The chosen site, an odd shaped lot at the intersection of four streets, and the need for a dome of 61 metres (200 feet) so as to be visible from the Arc de Triomphe, dictated unusual proportions for the building. The church was designed by Haussmann's fellow Protestant, architect Victor Baltard who also famously designed Les Halles markets. While Baltard's use of iron in Saint-Augustin's structure is praised for its inventiveness,[3] at least one critic has described the church as, "an eyesore: ridiculously sited, without proportion, crushed beneath an outsized dome."[4] The neighborhood around the church is now one of the most expensive...