page_title: Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais / History
caption_attribution_description: English: St-Gervais-St-Protais church and rue des Barres on the plan de Truschet and Hoyau (1550). Français&#160;: Eglise St-Gervais-St-Protais et rue des Barres sur le plan de Truschet et Hoyau (1550).
context_page_description: Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais is a Roman Catholic parish church located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, on Place Saint-Gervais in the Marais district, east of City Hall. The current church was built between 1494 and 1657, on the site of two earlier churches; the facade, completed last, was the first example of the French baroque style in Paris. The organists of the church included Louis Couperin and his nephew François Couperin, two of the most celebrated composers and musicians of the Baroque period; the organ they used can still be seen today. The church contains remarkable examples of medieval carved choir stalls, stained glass from the 16th century, 17th century sculpture, and modern stained glass by Sylvie Gaudin and Claude Courageux. Saint-Gervais was a parish church until 1975, when it became the headquarters of the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem.
context_section_description: A church dedicated to Saints Gervasius and Protasius, two Christian martyrs from Milan, is recorded as existing on the site in the 7th century, making it one of the first parish churches on the right bank in Paris.  It was attended mostly by boatmen and fishermen, because it was close to the river port at the Place de Grève.  It was built on a slight hill, the Monceau Saint-Gervais, to be safe from the floods of the Seine.  After the completion of the wall of Philippe-Auguste, built between 1190 and 1209, the neighborhood was protected against attack and the population began to grow. The church had come under the sponsorship of several of the important confreries or guilds of Paris, including the wine-merchants.  With their financial help, a larger church was built on the site in the early 13th century.   .
  Construction of the present church began in 1494, but was delayed by the Wars of religion and by a shortage of funds.  It was begun in the Gothic style;  the chapels of the apse were finished in 1530 and the transept in 1578.  While the interior of the church was largely Gothic, the facade was built in an original new style, the French Baroque, on a plan by architect Salomon de Brosse (1571–1626).  The first stone of the facade was placed by the young King Louis XIII in 1616.  Between 1600 and 1628, a second row of chapels was built on the north side including the golden chapel ornamented with painted woodwork.
  During the 17th and 18th century the church was attended by many members of the aristocratic families who lived in the Marais, including Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, and the Chancellor of Louis XIV, Michel Le Tellier, whose funeral monument is found in the church.
  Beginning in 1653, the church employed and sheltered the Couperin family, one of the most famous dynasties of French musicians, for more than two centuries. On one side of the church, the home of the  celebrated harpsichordists, organists, and composers still stands, with a plaque commemorating the Couperins' tenure. The organ used by Louis and François Couperin still exists today inside the church; it was built by the most famous organ builders of the time, François-Henri Clicquot, Louis-Alexandre Clicquot, and Robert Clicquot.
  In the 18th century, the facade of the church was greatly admired, though it was nearly blocked from view by a row of houses.  Voltaire wrote, "It is a masterpiece which is lacking nothing except a place from which to see it." The houses blocking the view were finally demolished in 1854, opening up the view of the facade. .
  During the French Revolution, the church was emptied of many of its treasures and turned into a Temple of Reason and Youth, before being returned to the Church in 1802.
  On 29 March 1918, a German shell, fired by the long-range "Paris Gun", fell on the church, killing 91 people and wounding 68 others; the explosion collapsed the roof when a Good Friday service was in progress. This was the worst single incident involving a loss of civilian lives during the German bombardment of Paris in 1918. Among those killed was Rose-Marie Ormond Andre-Michel, the niece and a favorite model of John Singer Sargent.
  In 1975 the church became the headquarters of the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem,  founded in that same year by Père Pierre-Marie Delfieu with the authorisation of the then Archbishop of Paris, François Marty.  The order is devoted to carrying on monastic life in an urban context; most of its members work part-time in civil occupations. The church is known for its distinctive and ecumenical liturgy;  for example, adopting Lutheran hymn music and Orthodox troparia.  The order has founded several other communities in France, at Mont St. Michel, Vezelay, and Magdala Sologne and elsewhere in Europe, in  Florence, Brussels, Cologne, Warsaw, and Montreal.
  Five new stained glass windows by Sylvie Gaudin were added to the southwest chevet of the church in 1993-95.  Another series of six windows by Claude Courageux was added in the early 2000s in the upper level of the church, in the south nave, the
caption: The church in 1550
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