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Origin and history

The Temple des Billettes, located 24 rue des Archives in Paris, originated in a 13th-century medieval legend: a Jew named Jonathas allegedly desecrated a hostie, which would have bled and stolen after being thrown into boiling water. This "miracle of the Billettes" gave rise to the construction of a chapel in 1294 on the site of the house of Jonathas, confiscated by Philip IV the Bel. The chapel became a major pilgrimage site, leading to the reconstruction of the church and the addition of a cloister in 1427, the only medieval vestige remaining in Paris.

In the 17th century, the Carmelites of Rennes took over the church and envisaged its reconstruction, but the project was blocked by conflicts with the neighbouring parish of Saint-Jean-en-Grève. It was only in the 18th century, under the direction of architect Jacques Hardouin-Mansart de Sagonne, that the present church was built between 1754 and 1758. The extended rectangular plan of a rotunda, inspired by the Invalides, and decorative motifs such as pots and palms, reflect the influence of the Mansart dynasty. Despite persistent legal disputes, the project was finally approved in 1753.

At the Revolution, the church and the convent were disused and partially sold. In 1808, Napoleon I attributed the Lutheran Consistory of the Seine, marking his transition to Protestantism. The interior design, mainly from the Empire and the July monarchy, includes an additional gallery and an organ from the Swedish embassy. In the 19th century, worship was celebrated alternately in French and German, attracting an aristocratic congregation, including the Duchess Dorothy von Medem, who financed the bell in 1820.

Today, the Temple of Billettes still houses a Lutheran Protestant parish and hosts concerts and exhibitions in its medieval cloister. Recent changes include an altar and a lutrin carved by Philippe Kaeppelin in the 1980s, as well as a new organ inaugurated in 1983. The site, classified as a Historical Monument, thus retains a double memory: that of a medieval Catholic devotion and that of an emblematic Protestant temple in Paris.

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