SciencesPo, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Saint-Sulpice and Eugène Delacroix

Today I rode with Kelly on the bus to see where he works and meet Urban, the security guard at the university who has befriended him.  Urban likes to practice his English with Kelly.  And Kelly practices his French with Urban.

Kelly at Sciences Politiques

I hopped back on the bus and went down the street a few stops to see the abbey church at Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the oldest church in Paris, originally built in the 6th century.  It is Romanesque and early Gothic and was restored in the 19th century.  The painting on the ceiling and columns inside was done in the 19th century renovations.  The mathematician and philosopher René Descartes is buried here.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés,

The church was once again undergoing restoration, which interfered with what little heat there was in the church.  A sign recommended that parishioners wear a heavy sweater so that the lack of heat would not prevent them from "meeting the Lord in prayer."


The Organ Loft

I walked from there past many chic clothing boutiques to Saint-Sulpice.  This church was built in the 17th and 18th centuries during the time of Kings Louis XIV and XV.  It is the second largest church in Paris after Notre Dame and is known for its organ.  Saint-Sulpice was made famous in Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code.  When Kelly and I were on study abroad in 1980, this church was not far from our pension and we would visit often.

I found two things interesting inside.  First is the Chapel of the Holy Angels, which contains three monumental paintings by Eugène Delacroix that he painted from 1856 to 1861. 


Jacob Wrestling with the Angel

Heliodorus Driven from the Temple

Saint Michael Slaying the Dragon

Saint-Sulpice is also known for having a gnomon.  A gnomen is the section of the sundial that casts the shadow.  The clockmaker/astronomer Henry Sully built it in 1727 at the request of the parish priest. 

Marble Obelisk and Brass Line

The priest wanted to calculate the winter and summer solstices and the equinoxes so he could accurately determine the date of Easter.  There is a brass line inlaid into the marble floor and on the shaft of the marble obelisk.  A small opening in a window allows the sunlight to shine on the brass line.  The church also still had its pretty crèche on display.

Yesterday I just happened to go to the Eugène Delacroix Museum not far from Saint-Sulpice. It is where he lived the last six years of his life.  His health was not good so he moved to be closer to where he was painting at Saint-Sulpice.  It was hard to find the museum tucked away in a courtyard in a tangle of short and narrow streets.

Entrance to the Delacroix Museum

Bust of Eugène Delacroix

Delacroix lived in the apartments up one flight of stairs.  He had a studio built behind the apartment and a garden created.  He made sure there was a covered walkway over the stairs out the back of his apartment down to the entrance to the studio.  The rose garden has been restored to how it looked when he lived there. I would love to see the garden in the summer.  It looks like it would be such a beautiful and peaceful spot in the middle of bustling Paris.

View of the Garden from the Apartment

Studio behind Apartment

The studio contained a huge room with large windows facing south.  It included some of the furniture and clothing he bought on his trip to Morocco in 1832 that inspired his painting.  I loved his painting box.  The studio was saved from being demolished to make way for a garage in the 1920s and eventually the museum was created.  What a pretty little corner of Paris.

Painting Box

Delacroix's Studio