5.3.12

A surprising church tower...




At the end of the street appears a surprising church tower, actually the highest in Paris.

Half way on this long street, Rue de Prony, you can zoom on this church tower or, in the opposite direction, on the rotunda / lodge at one of the entrances to Parc Monceau, the place where one once had to pay taxes to bring merchandise into the then smaller Paris (see previous posts about Parc Monceau and about the Wall ofthe Farmers-General).


We are in an area which used to be farming and hunting ground until the 19th century, referred to as “Plaine-Monceau”. It then became a very fashionable area and a lot of “hôtels particuliers” (private mansions) were built here. We can still see some, today mostly offices. On one street corner – with Rue Fortuny (see previous post about its remarkable mansions) stands the house where Edmond Rostand lived and wrote “Cyrano de Bergerac”.


Approaching the church tower, we cross Avenue de Wagram with the Arch of Triumph in the horizon (see previous posts) and the Place du Maréchal Juin – with a number of nice restaurants in its immediate surroundings.


The church, which is not easy to photograph, is the Sainte Odile. The construction started before WWII and was completed in 1946. The architecture is of course quite different from most other Paris churches, very much 1930 and influenced by byzantine edifices with three cupolas and of course especially the very specific high tower. It’s covered by bricks of the same origin as the Strasbourg Cathedral, maybe another reference to the Alsace region, of which Sainte Odile is the patron saint.


The interior is of course in the same style.


Maybe, the church architecture comes to its right better during the night?


I’m off to Sweden again for a week, so this post is preprogrammed.


16 comments:

Nikon said...

I've never seen that tower, Peter!
Thanks

Denise Covey said...

I don't remember seeing that tower Peter. Thanks for the share. Isn't it true that many Paris monuments look better lit up at night?

Denise

Thérèse said...

A very peculiar church tower indeed! I really did not pay attention for not having heard of that church! More than worth the detour.

Studio at the Farm said...

Interesting post, as always, Peter. That is really an odd-looking church to me, almost a b it of late Art Deco in style.

Olivier said...

je l'adore cette eglise (une de mes preferees de Paris), une architecture tres originale

Alain said...

Actuellement, on ne pourrait plus construire ce genre de chose sans déclencher un débat sur l'identité nationale.

Cezar and Léia said...

So beautiful pictures! Thanks for this tour!
Léia

SusuPetal said...

Ha det så trevligt i Sverige!

Ruth said...

Hard to photograph, yes, like St. Paul's in London. But you did a good job, and especially the night shots, I agree.

Bon voyage, and happy visit in Sweden!

Cergie said...

Ce clocher n'est pas sur un promontoire mais se voit de loin et ressemble beaucoup à la Coit Tower de San Francisco. Par ailleurs je lui trouve une forme très... euh suggestive et agressive.

claude said...

Cette Eglise a un style bien particulier. Je ne la connais pas du tout. Si son clocher est le plus haut de la capitale, ce n'est franchement le plus beau.

Paris Paul said...

I work 5 minutes away from this and so it was nice to see a post about it because it truly is rather unknown to most Parisians.

Ruby said...

The night shots are wonderful. I love touring Paris in your posts :)

Ash said...

Lovely photos, Peter! The street leading to the tower looks really nice!

Shammickite said...

Paris is so beautiful. And you always find such marvellous subjects for your camera, Peter!

arabesque said...

Hi peter!
again, happy travels!
oh! how i envy you! ^0^
hope you'd post some fotos of Sweden.
what a nice church,
interesting structure.