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Origin and history

The St. Lawrence church, located in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, finds its origins at the end of the fifth century, outside the walls of the city, near a monastery welcoming pilgrims to Saint-Denis. Based on the Roman axis linking Senlis to Orléans, it is mentioned by Gregory of Tours as an active basilica in the sixth century, marked by floods and fires. Destroyed by the Normans in 885, it was reborn in the 12th century as a parish, before being rebuilt in the 15th century in the flamboyant Gothic style.

The construction lasted several centuries: the choir was consecrated in 1429, but the nave and façade remained unfinished until the 17th century. In 1621, a classical facade was erected and replaced in 1863–67 by a neo-Gothic façade after the Haussmann Boulevards had been breached. The interior mixes Gothic decorations (seventeenth century vaults) and baroque decorations (a altarpiece of the choir by Gilles Guérin, now gone). The church also houses 19th-century stained glass windows, including works by Ernest Lami of Nozan and Stanisław Eleszkiewicz.

Place of memory, Saint-Laurent hosts the burials of Louise de Marillac (co-founder of the Daughters of Charity) and the executioners Sanson. It is also the framework of the religious marriage of the Countess of Barry in 1768. Ranked a historic monument in 1945 and then 2016, it preserves a remarkable organ, built by François-Henri Clicquot in the 18th century and restored in the 20th century. Today, the parish is led by the Emmanuel Community.

During the Revolution, the church successively became a temple of Reason, a place of theophilanthropic worship, then regained its Catholic vocation in 1802. The transformations of the 19th century (longening of a span, lead arrow) respond to urban breakthroughs. His furniture includes paintings by Jean-François Brémond and stained glass windows dedicated to Saint Vincent de Paul, a major figure in the parish.

Architecturally, St. Lawrence illustrates the superposition of styles: Gothic for the structure, classic for the 17th century facade (destructed), and neo-Gothic for the present. Lateral chapels, like that of the Virgin (1712), reflect liturgical developments. The dedicated cemetery, partially alienated from the Revolution, gives birth to the place of Faith. Today, the church remains an active place of worship and a witness to the Parisian heritage.

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