Latin Quarter

Late start, but a cheerful, sunshiney one. What a hot day! We walk up the left bank to Saint Chapelle where my daughter wants to see the stained glass. 

"A gem of Gothic style. Built in seven years, an impressive feat, the Holy Chapel was intended to house precious Christian relics, including Christ's crown of thorns, acquired by Saint Louis."

"Stunning stained glass. Arranged across 15 windows, each 15 meters high, the stained glass panes depict 1,113 scenes from the Old and New Testaments recounting the history of the world until the arrival of the relics in Paris."

Then, it is a relaxing lunch on a streetside cafe, and a trip for books to Shakespeare and Company.

 

But the most exquisite highlight of the day is this: a concert in Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre Church. We are walking past, and there is a poster about the concert. I have also seen this advertised while searching the Internet. I want to go, but it's not part of our plan. We, actually, have no plan. I am trying to be flexible to everyone's needs. But, one of my daughters wants very much to go, and the other offers to sit in the little park outside the church reading her new book in the sun while we attend. 

At the door, we realize we're a half hour late, and so we enter at a discount! The music, the atmosphere, the spontaneity of this decision - we are transported. I have saved a video clip, a small souvenir of the experience to savor.

“Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre Church

1 rue Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre
75005 Paris 5th

Description:
Considered as the oldest church in Paris, the medieval church Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre is located on the left bank in the heart of the Latin Quarter in a small public garden, square René-Viviani. If the origins of the building date back to the 6th century, the basilica is destroyed by the Vikings in 886; the construction of the current church began in 1160 and was completed ten years later. Inhabited by about fifty monks, the church is located in the university district and becomes the headquarters of the General Assemblies of the University of Paris. In the seventeenth century, the transfer of the University on the mountain Saint-Geneviève and the mismanagement of the place lead the priory to ruin, which is then attached to the Hôtel-Dieu on an initiative of Mazarin. During the French Revolution, Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre became a warehouse of salt before religious worship was reestablished in 1826. The church was again decommissioned in the second half of the nineteenth century, but its inscription to the Historical Monuments preserves it demolition. ”

Concert clip, Virtuoses de Paris this afternoon at the Église Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre