Abbaye Saint-Germain des Près

The Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (Sancti Germani de pratis), which includes the current Saint-Germain-des-Prés church, is a former Benedictine abbey in Paris (France), located at 3 place Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the current 6th arrondissement. Founded in the mid-6th century as the Basilica of Sainte-Croix et Saint-Vincent by the Merovingian king Childebert I and Saint Germain, Bishop of Paris, it owes its current name to the latter.

It was a royal abbey, thus benefiting from an exemption and directly subject to the Pope. The first abbey church was consecrated on April 23, 558, to the Holy Cross and Saint Vincent of Saragossa. This basilica featured marble columns, a panelled ceiling, and stained-glass windows. It served as a royal necropolis until the creation of the one at the Basilica of Saint-Denis, and the relics of Saint Germain were venerated there, though no medieval burials remain, and the relics have significantly diminished.

The church was rebuilt by Abbot Morard, starting from the end of the 10th century. The first four levels of the western bell tower, the nave, and the transept of the current church date from this period, notably featuring interesting capitals from around the year 1000. The current choir was built in the mid-12th century in the early Gothic style and consecrated by Pope Alexander III on April 21, 1163. It is one of the first Gothic buildings, contributing to the spread of this new style and of paramount archaeological importance. The conventual buildings were successively rebuilt during the 13th century, and an abbatial chapel inspired by the Sainte-Chapelle was erected by the architect Pierre de Montreuil and then dedicated to the Virgin; the entire complex was demolished at the beginning of the 19th century.

The establishment of the Maurist reform in 1630 made the abbey a centre of widely influential erudition. However, the Revolution imposed the suppression of all abbeys, and for Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the end came on February 13, 1792. The church soon became a saltpetre factory, and worship was only re-established there on April 29, 1803. Since then, the church has been exclusively parochial. Between 1821 and 1854, the church, severely tested during the revolutionary period, was restored by architects Étienne-Hippolyte Godde and Victor Baltard. It was classified as a historical monument on the 1862 list, and the remains of the abbey were listed by the decree of October 26, 1953. The Saint-Germain-des-Prés church is the oldest of the great Parisian churches.

The quadrilateral between Rue de l'Échaudé, Rue Gozlin, Rue Saint-Benoît, and Rue Jacob marks the boundaries of the enclosure of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.