The Church of Saint Germain (Saint-Germain-des-Près) is the oldest in Paris, the only one with a significant part dating back to the Romanesque era.
Its construction began in the 11th century, on the site of a previous church where the Merovingian kings were buried. For centuries, a monastery surrounded the church, probably the largest in Europe. Here, monks from royal families served, and cardinals and popes emerged from here.
Opposite are several famous restaurants frequented by Pablo Picasso, Jean-Paul Sartre, François Mitterrand, where Marina Tsvetaeva, Vladimir Larionov, Zinaida Serebriakova could be met… Around is a neighborhood long favored by European celebrities. Here lived Adam Mickiewicz, Oscar Wilde, George Sand, Marcello Mastroianni, Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix… And now you can see Catherine Deneuve leaving her house, Jean-Paul Belmondo walking with his dog… And this is not a coincidence. The Left Bank is both the oldest and the most expensive, and the most aristocratic district of Paris.
The Church of St. Sulpice (Saint Sulpice), where Dumas settled the musketeers, majestically rises above the sunny square with perhaps the most beautiful fountain in the city… Together with St. Germain (Saint Germain), these are the two most aristocratic cathedrals in Paris.
Nearby is another unique church – St. Vladimir’s, in front of which stands a bust of Taras Shevchenko. This is the Ukrainian church of Paris.
Around is a whole series of streets, entirely adorned with the windows of antique shops. Interestingly, in the evenings, the illuminated exhibits harmoniously blend with the interiors in the illuminated windows above…
Here you can park in an underground parking lot by the powerful city wall of the 14th century, stroll through the courtyards of the 17th century, and stand in front of the house that housed the Russian embassy of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
And very close by is the palace part of the St. Germain suburb. In the 18th century, this was the most fashionable district of Paris (It is no coincidence that Muscovites referred to Prechistenka – as the most expensive street – as the St. Germain suburb of the city of Moscow!). Here stand palaces of the 18th century, one after another, in the arches and courtyards of 19th-20th century houses. They house ministries, the prime minister’s receptions, embassies, residences of ambassadors… This is still the most expensive part of Paris today.
In the St. Germain suburb, St. Petersburg was born: a number of architects who built here later went to serve Peter the Great, and today you can see the architectural precursors of the Admiralty, St. Petersburg palaces…
Around the St. Germain monastery, many religious orders were born, some of which still exist today. It is no coincidence that the most famous church in Paris, built in the monastery where in the 19th century the Virgin Mary appeared to a nun named Catherine Labouré (in Russia, only Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov were honored with this). This is the heart of believing, religious Paris.
And nearby is the Lutetia hotel, known for its Russian evenings with Ivan Bunin, Vladislav Khodasevich…
The houses of ancient construction (dating back to the 14th-15th centuries), no less ancient streets, cathedrals, alternating with powerful architectural ensembles of the 17th-19th centuries, a huge number of restaurants and cafes, boutiques, and extraordinarily beautiful corners of Paris – this is what St. Germain is. It is simply impossible to understand Paris without the exquisite, strict, luxurious, and restrained St. Germain suburb…
