Saint-Germain-des-Près is the oldest church in Paris, the only one with a significant part of its structure dating back to the Romanesque period.
It was built in the 11th century, on the site of a previous church where kings of the Merovingian dynasty were buried. The church was surrounded for centuries by a monastery, probably the largest in Europe. Members of royal families served as monks here, cardinals and popes came from here.
Opposite are several famous restaurants where Pablo Picasso, Jean-Paul Sartre, François Mitterrand were regulars, where one could meet Marina Tsvetaeva, Vladimir Larionov, Zinaida Serebryakova… All around is a neighborhood that has long been favored by European celebrities. Here lived Adam Mickiewicz, Oscar Wilde, George Sand, Marcello Mastroiani, Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix… And now here you can see Catherine Deneuve coming out of her house, Jean-Paul Belmondo, walking with his dog… And all this is not accidental. The Left Bank is the oldest, the most expensive and the most aristocratic neighborhood in Paris.
The church of Saint Sulpice (Saint Sulpice), near which Dumas settled the Musketeers, rises majestically above the sunny square with almost the most beautiful fountain of the city…. Together with Saint Germain, these are two of the most aristocratic cathedrals in Paris.
Not far away is another unique church – St. Vladimir, in front of which stands a bust of Taras Shevchenko. This is the Ukrainian church of Paris.
Around – a number of streets, solidly decorated with windows of antique stores. It is interesting that in the evenings the illuminated exhibits surprisingly harmonize with the interiors in the consecrated windows on the floors above…
Here you can park in the underground parking lot at the powerful city wall of the XIV century, stroll through the courtyards of the XVII century, stand in front of the house that housed the Russian embassy of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
And very close to the palace part of the St. Germain suburb. In the XVIII century it was the most fashionable district of Paris (It is not by chance that Muscovites called Prechistenka – as the most expensive street – St.Germainsky suburb of Moscow!). Here stand the palaces of the XVIII century, one after another, in the arches and courtyards of the houses of the XIX-XX centuries. They house ministries, reception rooms of the first minister, embassies, residences of ambassadors… This is even today the most expensive part of Paris.
In St.-Germain suburb was born St.-Petersburg: a number of architects who built here, then went to the service of Peter the Great and today here you can see the architectural forerunners of the Admiralty, St.-Petersburg palaces….
Many religious orders were born around the monastery of St.-Germain, some of which still exist today. It is not by chance that the most famous church of Paris is located here, built in the monastery, where in the XIX century, a nun named Catherine Laboure appeared to the Virgin Mary (in Russia, this honor was bestowed only on Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov). This is the heart of religious Paris.
And next to it – Hotel Lutetia, famous for its Russian evenings with Ivan Bunin, Vladislav Khodasevich …
Houses of ancient buildings (since XIV-XV centuries), no less ancient streets, cathedrals, alternating with powerful architectural ensembles of XVII-XIX centuries, a huge number of restaurants and cafes, boutiques and unusually beautiful corners of Paris – that’s what St. Germain is. It is impossible to understand Paris without the refined, austere, luxurious and restrained St.Germain suburb….
