hotel st pol – Lavender's Blue

Nous Emmener à l’Église

St Paul and St Louis Church Facade Le Marais Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

In the very heart of the village of St Paul in the very heart of the quartier of Le Marais in the very heart of the 4th Arrondisement in the very heart of Paris is St Paul and St Louis Church. There is nowhere more atmospheric to be on a late Saturday afternoon in the depths of winter than this candlelit thin place resonating to the thrilling grandeur of organ playing.

St Paul and St Louis Church Le Marais Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

St Paul and St Louis Church Dome Le Marais Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

St Paul and St Louis Church Angel Le Marais Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

St Paul and St Louis Church Balcony Le Marais Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

St Paul and St Louis Church Ceiling Le Marais Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

St Paul and St Louis Church Carving Le Marais Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

2019: Lavender’s Blue descend on St Paul and St Louis Church.
2015: The façade and lantern tower are restored.
1871: The church is pillaged by the Paris Commune.
1831: The church is pillaged during the Three Day Revolution.
1810s: Victor Baltard restores the building. The architect would later collaborate with his fellow Lutheran Georges-Eugène Haussmann on the masterplanning of Paris.
1802: St Louis Church is also dedicated to St Paul and the bell and façade clock of the demolished church are reinstated in the newly doubly dedicated church.
1798: St Paul Church is sold and demolished.
1789: The Bastille is destroyed and St Louis Church is used as storage space for art and books.
1641: Cardinal de Richelieu celebrates the first mass in St Louis Church.
1627: Louis XIII lays down the first stone of St Louis Church as it exists today.
1430s: St Paul Church is rebuilt.
1358: Charles V sets up his royal palace in Hôtel St Pol on Rue St Paul.
1125: A church replaces the chapel and is upgraded to become the Parish of St Paul the Apostle.
632: St Paul in the Fields Cemetery Chapel is constructed and dedicated to St Paul the Hermit.

St Paul and St Louis Church Cross Le Marais Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Someone, somewhere, recently asked us what the sign INRI means above a crucifix. The acronym stands for the Latin phrase ‘Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum’. John 19:19 explains, “Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews’.”

St Paul and St Louis Church Candles Le Marais Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Hôtel Charles V + St Paul Le Marais Paris

De Temps en Temps

Continuing the bookending theme of a year well spent: Easter in George V, Christmas in Charles V. The former, westward upstream of Notre Dame; the latter, eastward downstream. One, extrovert art deco; the other, discreet Swedish rococo. Charles V Hôtel is in St Paul, a village embedded in the city between the River Seine and Rue St Antoine. It’s on the site of Hôtel St Pol built by Charles the Wise in the 14th century. Even back then, St Paul was super fashionable. Later hôtels particuliers there are aplenty. Within a polished stone’s throw of Hôtel Charles V are Hôtel d’Aumont (now offices), Hôtel de Sens (now a library) and Hôtel Hénault de Cantobre (now European House of Photography). Next door to Hôtel Charles V is La Mâle d’Effeenne, fashion designer and visual consultant Nico Thibault Francioni’s treasure trove of a shop. Nico calls it a “univers de choix”. Ian Nairn wrote in his eponymous guide to the French Capital: “Paris is a collective masterpiece, perhaps the greatest in the world.” St Paul is a sophisticated slice of that masterpiece. Hôtel Charles V (petit boutique five storeys with just two to six bedrooms per floor) adds some fairy dust. Bises de Paris.