Abbey of Saint Genevieve

Abbey of Saint Genevieve ( Fr. Abbaye Sainte-Geneviève ) - one of the main monasteries in Paris during the old way . Abolished and destroyed during the French Revolution . The memory of the monastery was preserved in the name of the hill of St. Genevieve , on which it stood.

Sight
Abbey of Saint Genevieve
Sketch of an abbey church made in the 18th century
A country
Location
Diocese
Architectural style

The foundation on this site, in the year 502, is the Abbey of Sts. Peter and Paul is attributed to Clovis and his wife Clotilde . It is believed that Saint Genevieve , the heavenly patroness of the French capital, loved to come here to pray. They buried her next to Clovis. From the plunder by the Normans in 857, the monastery did not recover until the XII century, when the cathedral church in the Gothic style was founded by the works of Stephen from Tournai . Around 1110, Pierre Abelard lectured at the abbey. In 1309-1311 there was a trial of the Templars .

In the 17th century, Cardinal de Larochefoucault carried out a large-scale reform, subjugating more than a hundred Augustinian monasteries to Parisian abbey, scattered throughout France. By that time, the medieval cathedral was dilapidated, and the authorities began to think about its demolition. Finally, in 1744, the seriously ill Louis XV vowed in the event of a recovery to replace the dilapidated medieval church with a grandiose building in a modern style. The royal vow was fulfilled in 1758-90, when on Mount St. Genevieve grew up the huge building of the cathedral church of St. Genevieve .

With the beginning of the revolution, the monastery was abolished, and its main temple declared a national pantheon. During the time of Napoleon, in connection with the construction of a new street, the old buildings of the abbey were demolished, with the exception of a number of secondary buildings, etc. towers of Clovis in the Gothic style. Now they are occupied by the lyceum of Henry IV . In addition, the church of the Apostle Stephen , once subordinate to the abbey, has been preserved nearby. In 1851, the Library of St. Genevieve was built there.

The bells of the abbey are dedicated to the play by Maren Marais “Bells of Saint Genevieve” ^[2] ( Sonnerie de Sainte Geneviève du Mont-de-Paris , 1723) for violin, viola and gamba and harpsichord.