Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs

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Église Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs (Church of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs)
Rue Saint-Martin
Quartier des Arts-et-Métiers, 3rd arrondissement
Paris, July 2002

“The Church of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs (literally, St Nicholas-in-the-Fields) is a Catholic church in Paris' Third arrondissement. Early parts of the church, including the west front, built 1420–1480, are in the Flamboyant Gothic style, while later portions, including the south portal, mostly built 1576–86, are examples of French Renaissance architecture. It is notable particularly for its Renaissance carved sculpture, decoration and large collection of French Renaissance paintings in the interior. The first chapel was constructed at the end of the 11th century by the monks of the Priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, a Benedictine monastery, as a church for the servants of the abbey. The abbey at this time was one of the most important in France; it was called ‘the third daughter of Cluny’, after Cluny Abbey in Burgundy, the monastery responsible for the order's Cluniac reforms. It is located next to the Musée des Arts et Métiers, a museum of industrial arts and crafts, which occupies the site of the original Priory of Saint Martin, and preserves a portion of the old monastery.” (Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs, Wikipedia)