Gallery with excellent views of the city center of the French cathedral. Other lesser known churches in Paris

There are several hundred churches in Paris, but there are some that we know almost from childhood. Victor Hugo told us about Notre Dame Cathedral, we read about the Church of Saint Genevieve at Alexander Dumas, and Saint-Sulpice became the center of action in the "Da Vinci Code" romaine. We have selected for you 10 of the most famous and most beautiful churches in Paris that are worth visiting.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Basilica of the Sacre Coeur

Cathedral of Saint Louis (Cathedral of the House of Invalids)

The Cathédrale Saint-Louis-des-Invalides is part of a large architectural monument originally built as a boarding house for war veterans. In 1676, the French Minister of War proposed adding the cathedral to this complex. The temple was opened in 1679. In it, all the soldiers held in.

The Cathedral of Saint Louis is the only one of all French churches to be permanently decorated with national flags. According to ancient tradition, the banners of defeated enemies were also brought here.

Address: 129 Rue de Grenelle, 75007.

Metro station: Varenne, La Tour-Maubourg, École Militaire, Saint-François-Xavier.

In the early 13th century, this Roman Catholic cathedral was erected in the city of Bourges, the capital of the province of Berry. Built in the French Gothic style, the Bourges Cathedral stands in a place of religious significance dating back to at least the third century, and it was here, in the Roman city of Avaricum, that the first Christians among the Gauls found protection. Today the cathedral has a modern design and a magnificent façade with stunning intricate carvings and decorations. Surprisingly, most of the stained glass windows remain original, many of them depicting stories from the Old and New Testaments.

2. Strasbourg Cathedral

Strasbourg Cathedral is sometimes called the Rose Cathedral. The cathedral is built of sandstone, which gives it a pink hue. Althoughsignificant parts of it were built in the Romanesque style,he is consideredone of the best examples of high, or late,gothic architecture. In the cathedral of Strasbourg there are still ongoing Catholic church services that you can attend.

The site on which the Strasbourg Cathedral stands was originally occupied by a Roman temple, then a Romanesque church, which was built in 1015 and then destroyed by fire. The present Cathedral was completed in 1284.

The unique, unparalleled spire of Strasbourg Cathedral was the tallest in the Christian world for four centuries.

3. Monolithic Church of Saint-Jean

Aubert-sur-Dronne is a small and picturesque town with traditional architecture and quaint houses in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France. The town itself is a unique landmark in France, but the center of attraction is undoubtedly the Saint-Jean church, carved almost entirely of limestone in the rock. Built in the 7th century and significantly expanded in the 12th century, the church has a vaulted nave, a baptismal basin, and dozens of ancient coffins.

4. Rouen Cathedral

Rouen Cathedral, Etorim Catholic Gothic Cathedral v Rouen , Normandy. Rouen is sometimes called the city of a thousand spiers because it is home to many churches. However, one stands out from the rest: the Cathedral of Rouen. This huge, towering cathedral is the tallest in all of France.

Construction of the current building began at 12:00m century. On the ground on which the cathedral rises, the leader of the Vikings is buried , Rollo , founderDuchies of Normandyhe was baptized herein 915 and buried in 932.

5. Basilica of Sacre-Coeur

The Basilica of the Sacre-Coeur is one of the most famous churches in France, located in Paris, on the Montmartre hill, which is the highest point in Paris. It was built in the Roman-Byzantine style and is very similar to the famous Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. One of the main features of the Sacre Coeur Basilica is the huge mosaic of Jesus. Triple arched portico,surmounted by two bronze equestrian statues of French national saints, Jeanne D "Arc and King Louis IX Saint, designed by Hippolyte Lefebvre. The bell of the cathedral is one of the heaviest in the world, weighing 19 tons. The dome offers an excellent panoramic view of Paris.

The site of the basilica is traditionally associated with the beheading of the city's patron Saint-Denis in the 3rd century.

6. Notre Dame de la Garde

The port city of Marseille is home to the incredible Notre Dame de la Garde. The cathedral was erected in honor of the patron saint of sailors. The Roman Catholic cathedral was built on the ruins of an ancient fortress in the 19th century, and it was created in the Byzantine Renaissance style. Inside the cathedral, you will be impressed by the statue of the Madonna and Child, as well as the impressive bell tower and stone vaults.

7. Abbey of Mont Saint Michel (Mont Saint Michel Abbey)

The Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel owes its popularity among tourists to its location on the island. The island of Mont Saint-Michel is located just half a mile off the coast near Normandy, which makes access to it limited. It is still home to Benedictine monks and the abbey is surrounded by quaint streets, shops, cafes and museums dedicated to the island and its history.

With over 1.7 million visitors in 2014, the abbey is one of themost visited cultural sites in France... Included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

8. Reims Cathedral

More than 800 years ago, the construction of the Reims Cathedral began, it replaced the old church destroyed inthe result of a fire in 1211which was built on site basilicas , where Clovis was baptizedbishop of Reimsin 496. Today, the cathedral is a stunning example of Gothic architecture and serves as the main attraction in the city of Reims. It was in this very cathedral that many French kings were crowned and records show that even Joan of Arc attended one of these ceremonies in the 15th century. The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Reims.

9. Notre Dame de Paris

The most famous cathedral in France is Notre Dame de Paris, which was built in the middle of the 12th century, during the reign of Louis VII.Notre Dame is the most popular monument in Paris and in all of France, outperforming even the Eiffel Tower; more than 15 million tourists visit the cathedral every year.

But the famous cathedral is also a working Catholic church, a place of pilgrimage, and a focal point for Catholicism in France. A gem of Parisian architecture, Notre Dame de Paris is built in the Gothic style and boasts its incredible size. Its buttresses were among the first in the world, and many gargoyles were used not only for decoration, but also to support the columns.

Notre- Dame de Paris stands on the site of the first Christian church in Paris, the Basilica of SaintEtienne who herselfwas built on the site of a RomanTemple of Jupiter .

10. Chartres Cathedral

Chartres Cathedral is a Gothic Latin church located in Chartres 80 kilometers southwest of Paris. The construction of the cathedral at Chartres began in the 11th century. This incredible Gothic building is considered one of the most important pieces of architecture in France. The colorful stained glass windows are well preserved, and two different spiers compete for tourist attention. Although the appearance is phenomenal, watch out for the relics inside, such as the dress that Mary was allegedly wearing when she gave birth to Jesus.

The cathedral is in exceptional good condition for its age. Most of the original stained glass windows remain intact, while only minor changes have been made to the architecture since the early 13th century. In in The current type of building is dominated by heavy buttresses , which allowed the architects to significantly increase the size of the window, in the western part is dominated by two contrasting spiers with a height of 105 meters.

He is listed World heritage UNESCO, which calls Chartres Cathedral "high point French Gothic Art "and" Masterpiece ".

Speaking of the Russian Cathedral in Paris, it is worth starting with the fact that there are actually two cathedrals. This is explained by the complexity of the administrative-hierarchical structure of the Orthodox Church and the presence of two competing organizations in some way: ROC (Russian Orthodox Church or Moscow Patriarchate) and ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia). That is why there are two Russian Orthodox churches in Paris: on Daru Street in the 17th arrondissement there is the Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky, built in the 19th century, subordinate to the ROCOR and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, while on the Seine embankment in the 7th arrondissement, the Holy Trinity Cathedral has been operating since 2016. belonging to the Korsun diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. And if everyone has heard about the activities of the ROC, then ROCOR, even for many Orthodox Christians who do not live abroad, is not the most famous abbreviation.

What is ROCOR?

Appearance in the 20s. XX century ROCOR - the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia - was a direct consequence of the October Revolution and the Civil War: ROCOR was created by Russian émigré priests for Russian émigré parishioners.

For decades all over the world, from the USA to Australia, ROCOR not only preserved the Orthodox traditions of pre-revolutionary Russia, but also played a unifying role for many generations of Russian emigrants: it opened Russian-language schools, printed books and periodicals, and was simply a center of attraction for Russian-speaking emigrants. And you can still feel it very much when you visit the old Cathedral on Daru Street. People came and come here not only to pray, but also to exchange news, find work in the Russian-speaking environment (there has long been a popular notice board in the courtyard), restaurants of Russian cuisine have settled down on the streets adjacent to the cathedral.

At the same time, the ROCOR tried for a long time to live as if the revolution and Soviet power did not exist at all, and the tsar would sooner or later return to the Russian throne. Any change in the old order, rituals and traditions was considered unacceptable, and such conservatism must have alienated many from the Orthodox Church abroad, especially in recent decades.

Combining or trying on

Having left the subordination of the Moscow Patriarchate back in 1927 and entered directly into the subordination of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, until 2007 the ROCOR was an organization completely independent of the ROC. Moreover, if for most of the 20th century the Russian Church Abroad considered the ROC to be an accomplice of the Bolsheviks and an agent of the KGB, then the Moscow Patriarchate ranked the ROCOR as a schismatic. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was Moscow that first began to take steps towards the unification of the two churches. Finally, in 2007, a corresponding agreement was signed, and the ROCOR returned to the fold of the ROC, but with the special status of a “self-governing church”. That is, from a formal point of view, the ROCOR recognizes the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate over itself, but from an administrative and largely political point of view, it is a very independent organization. The Ukrainian and Moldavian Orthodox Churches, among others, have similar statuses.

As one of the clergymen said about the unification of the ROC and ROCOR, it was not so much a unification as a “reconciliation” of the two churches that took place. And the presence of two Orthodox cathedrals in Paris is another confirmation of this. It is no coincidence that immediately after the unification of the ROC and ROCOR, representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate started talking about the need to build a new Russian cathedral in Paris under the auspices of the ROC in addition to the already existing Orthodox church of Alexander Nevsky. And almost a decade later, the new church saw the light of day.

Who needs a new Russian cathedral in Paris?

Many Orthodox Parisians have been waiting for this new cathedral for a long time. The small cathedral church of the Three Saints on Petel Street in the 15th arrondissement has not accommodated everyone for a long time. It was organized by a group of immigrants who did not want to break off relations with the Moscow Patriarchate and opened an Orthodox church in the basement of a former bicycle factory in 1931. By the way, there are five more small Orthodox churches in Paris, but they all belong to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and not to the Moscow one.

And now the ROC has a new parish in Paris, striking not only in scope and architecture, but also in location. The complex of buildings is located in the prestigious 7th arrondissement on the left bank of the Seine, not far from the main Parisian landmark - the Eiffel Tower. In addition to the temple, there is a Russian-French school, an exhibition space, a meeting and concert hall for 220 spectators, living and office premises. The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity is clearly trying to play the same role that the old Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky played a century and a half before - to become the center of Russian emigration and the cultural life of Russian Paris.

The cathedral belongs to the Korsun diocese, which unites the foreign parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and Andorra, and is under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Who and for how much?

The opening ceremony of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and the Russian Spiritual and Cultural Center took place in October 2016. Russia will buy the land for construction back in 2010, beating two serious competitors - Canada and Saudi Arabia. The cost of the deal was not disclosed, but French newspapers named the amount of 70-75 million euros.

The construction took a year and a half and cost a little less than 100 million euros. The money for the purchase of land and the construction of a new complex was allocated from the budget of the Russian Federation.

The initial design of the winning architect, Manuel Nyuez-Janowski, drew protests from the Paris City Hall. According to city officials, this project did not fit into the historical ensemble of Quai Branly and was not of interest from an aesthetic point of view. The Russian side listened to the dissatisfaction of the French side, giving preference to the second-ranked French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, who, by the way, has been working in Russia for a long time.

Russian architecture by a French architect

In architectural terms, the temple is a mixture of classic Russian church architecture and the spirit of modern architecture. Not everyone liked this hybrid, but the complex fit perfectly into the historical buildings of the city.

The building of the cathedral, built of light Burgundy limestone, is crowned with five domes. The largest symbolizes Christ, the four smaller ones - the evangelists Luke, Mark, John and Matthew. Architect Wilmott in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper admits that the most difficult thing was to find the correct drawing of the onion so that the temple would be read not as Byzantine, but as Russian.

The onion domes are made in Brittany from composite materials using the technology used in the aerospace industry - they are extremely lightweight and durable. 90,000 of the finest sheets of gold leaf were applied by hand over a period of three months. The domes do not shine or sparkle, but gently shine with a delicate matte finish.

Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky

And what about the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on Daru Street near the Arc de Triomphe? What is its role on the Orthodox map of the French capital?

For a century and a half, it symbolized the Russian Orthodox world in France. The Orthodox church, built during the reign of Alexander II according to the project of Roman Kuzmin in the Russian-Byzantine style, became an important center of attraction for many thousands of Russian emigrants who found themselves in Paris before and after the revolution.

Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova were married here, and Sergei Diaghilev and Guillaume Apollinaire were witnesses. The funeral service for Ivan Turgenev, Wassily Kandinsky, Ivan Bunin, Fyodor Chaliapin, Bulat Okudzhava was performed here. Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya married their daughter Elena in the cathedral.

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral came out of the subordination of the Moscow Patriarchate in 1931, since then it belongs to the Patriarchate of Constantinople and is subordinate to the ROCOR. That is why on Sunday services
there are so many descendants of the “white emigration” here. They speak Russian with a strong French accent, but they do not betray Orthodox traditions, as they understand them. Therefore, they are unlikely to ever join the parishioners of the new Cathedral. But if the Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky is undoubtedly the most important historical monument in Paris and still a living place of the emigre life of Russian-speaking Orthodox Parisians, then the new Cathedral of the Holy Trinity is just about to become one.

Russian Cathedral in Paris Rating: ★★★★★ 4.9 based on 75 reviews

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The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity on the Quai Branly in Paris was consecrated by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on December 4, 2016. Included in the complex of the Russian Spiritual and Cultural Center.

Russian Spiritual and Cultural Center is a complex of four buildings:

Cathedral of the Holy Trinity of the Korsun Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church,
a Russian-French elementary school for 150 students,
exhibition center,
buildings of the diocesan administration with a concert hall and living quarters.

The center is located on a territory with a total area of 4.2 thousand square meters. meters in the VII arrondissement of Paris, a piece of land acquired by the Russian Government in Paris, a few hundred meters from the Eiffel Tower and in close proximity to the Branly Museum, the Grand Palais and the Parisian Museum of Modern Art. The territory of the center is part of the Russian Embassy in France and in this regard has diplomatic immunity.

The center project was developed by the French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte. The official opening took place on October 19, 2016.

Address: 1 Quai Branly, 75007 Paris.

Cathedral of Saint Sava (Paris)

Cathedral of Saint Sava (Serb. Crkva Svetog Save u Parizu) is the cathedral of the Western European Diocese of the Serbian Patriarchate, located in the city of Paris and consecrated in honor of the first Serbian archbishop and national hero of Serbia - Saint Sava of Serbia.

In September 1947, the first Serbian Orthodox community was founded in Paris, which was officially recognized by the French authorities on February 3, 1948. At the initial stage, the parish did not have its own separate church and divine services were performed in the temples of other Christian denominations.

In 1962, the congregation rented a Protestant church on Rue Simplon, and in 1984 finally acquired and refurbished the building for Orthodox services.

The building of the cathedral was built in the neo-Romanesque style and was faced with hewn limestone from the outside and decorated with openwork ornaments. Above the entrance to the temple is a fresco of St. Sava of Serbia, painted in the style of ancient Serbian church painting. Inside, the church is divided along supporting pillars into two parts: on the left - the temple space; in the right - a large icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "The Tsaritsa" is installed. A carved two-tiered iconostasis made of bog oak with icons (to the right of the Royal Doors) in the bottom row - the Savior, the Archangel Michael, John the Baptist, the great martyr and healer Panteleimon; on the left - the image of the Mother of God "Three-handed", Archdeacon Stephen, Saint Sava of Serbia, Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. The second row of iconostasis depicts the twelve apostles. The iconostasis is crowned with the image of the Old Testament Trinity and an Orthodox eight-pointed cross. There are no paintings in the church.

Address: 23, rue du Simplon, 75018 Paris

Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov (Paris)

The temple on the rue Lecoubre was built in 1933 and consecrated in honor of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov. The project of the church iconostasis was created by the founder of the Society for the Revival of Artistic Rus, Academician N.V. Globa. In the bottom row were installed icons of the letter of P.A.Fyodorov.

Forty years later, the building of the temple fell into disrepair, in connection with which in 1973-1974 a new wooden church was built on the site of the old temple according to the project of the architect A. N. Fedorov. Inside the temple there are two massive maples, the trunks of which go out through the holes in the roof (one plant is alive, the other is withered). On one of the trees is the text of the will of Seraphim of Sarov.

One of the main shrines of the temple is the icon of the Monk Seraphim with a particle of his relics. Also in the church are kept a part of the stone taken from Tsarskoe Selo, on which the saint performed his devotional deed, part of the saint's mantle and a small amount of flour, which the sisters of the Diveyevo monastery ground in a hand mill and handed out to a handful of pilgrims as a blessing.

Address: 91, rue Lecourbe, Paris 15e.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Paris)

The Russian presence in France dates back to the 18th century. In the 19th century, about a thousand Russians lived permanently or temporarily in Paris. They have no other place of prayer other than the one in the Russian embassy in Paris - too cramped.

In 1847, the priest of the Russian embassy - Joseph Vasiliev - began work on the design of the permanent church. The inertia of the Russian government and French administrative slowness held back the completion of the project, but Napoleon III finally gives his consent.

Funding for the construction was carried out mainly with donations made by Russians in Russia and around the world. Tsar Alexander II made a personal contribution - about 150,000 gold francs. The project attracted great interest in France. The donations of the Orthodox were joined by the contributions of Catholics and Protestants.

The new church was consecrated on September 11, 1861 by Archbishop Leonty (Lebedinsky), the future Moscow metropolitan. It is dedicated to Saint Alexander Nevsky, Prince of Novgorod, the glorious hero of Russia.

Address: Paris, Rue Daru, 12

Saint Stephen's Cathedral (Paris)

In 1890, according to the project of the French architect Joseph Vaudréme (1829-1914), at 7 rue Georges Bizet in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, the foundation stone of a Greek Orthodox cathedral took place, which was consecrated on September 22, 1895 in honor of the first martyr Archdeacon Stephen.

The 42-meter-high building of the cathedral was built in the Byzantine style, faced with white and brown glazed bricks, and the walls are cut through with long arched windows. The cathedral is crowned with a dome on sails and an equilateral Byzantine cross. The arched entrance to the temple is framed by Corinthian columns of yellow limestone. The outer walls of the cathedral are partially built up with later buildings.

In 1962, the legendary singer Edith Piaf, who converted to Orthodoxy, and the Greek hairdresser Theophanis Lambukas were married in the church.

In 1977, Maria Callas, the greatest opera singer of Greek descent, was buried in the cathedral.

Since 1980, the community of the Orthodox Church of Antioch has regularly held services in Arabic on Saturdays in the temple.

Address: 7 Rue Georges Bizet, 75016 Paris, France

September 11, 2011 marked the 150th anniversary of the main Orthodox church in Paris - the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky (La cathédrale Saint-Alexandre-Nevsky).
The foundation stone of the Holy Alexander Nevsky Church took place in 1859.
The church was consecrated in 1861 on August 30 - on the feast of the Transfer of the relics of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky.

“This monument is one of the most beautiful decorations in Paris,” wrote the Catholic Abbot Guetta, who soon converted to Orthodoxy, about the newly built Russian church. Its five pyramidal domes culminate in elliptical balls and glittering crosses.

Beautiful windows have been pierced in the domes covered with gilding. The fully gilded stone roof of the church porch is supported by four beautiful carved columns. The inside of the church is decorated with grandiose murals of excellent execution.
All walls are covered with bright painting, shining with gold. "

The guides, stopping in front of the Alexander Nevsky Church on rue Daru in the 8th arrondissement of the French capital between the Arc de Triomphe and Parc Monceau, say that the funeral service for the Russians who died in Paris was given here, and they name the most famous of them: the writers I.S. ... Turgenev (1883) and I.A. Bunin (1953), artists M.K. Bashkirtsev (1884) and V.V. Kandinsky (1944), singer F.I. Chaliapin (1938).
They were buried in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.

The soldiers who died were also served. It is known that the plaques with the names of Russian pilots were designed by the spouses Nizhevskys - Robert Lvovich (who flew on the Ilya Muromets aircraft) and Vera Aleksandrovna, nee Kovanko.

In the cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky, today they were serving the funeral service for Andrei Tarkovsky (1986), Bulat Okudzhava (1997).

The church under the Russian mission in Paris has existed since 1820 as a house in rented premises.
In May 1846, the place of the priest was taken by I.V. Vasiliev, who soon decided to create a real church, which could become the center of Russian Orthodox life in Paris.

The architects of the temple were Roman Kuzmin and Ivan Shtorm (the author of the Kiev Vladimir Cathedral).
In the plan, the church has a Greek cross, the apse is crowned with five turrets with onion domes. Its appearance is characterized by an eclectic (pseudo-Russian) style.
Interior decoration of the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky and its decor had to correspond to the "canons of St. Sophia of Constantinople".
The temple was painted by Sokrokin, Bronnikov, Bogomolov and others.
In 1955-56, during the next major renovation, the lower church in the name of the Holy Trinity was painted by artists Albert and Margarita Benoit.

In 1876, bells were installed on two bell towers, cast from bronze by the Guild of Merchants of the city of Saratov at the expense of retired Colonel P.D. Buturlina. There is a small wall clock bell in the right bell tower.

The interiors of the church continued to be decorated in the future. A.E. Beideman created several more images of the Mother of God, the Savior and the saints.
For the lower church, the artist G.S. Sedov painted the image of the Holy Trinity. The famous seascape painter A.P. Bogolyubov, who from the very beginning took an active part in the creation and decoration of the temple, wrote two large canvases in the 1870s - "The Sermon of Jesus Christ on Lake Tiberias" and "Jesus Walking on the Waters". 16 remote images were painted by the artist N.D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky. The images "Flight to Egypt" and "Christ with the disciples on the way to Emmaus" were made by V.P. Sheremetev.

After October 1917, the cathedral became the home of the Russian emigration.

In this church, not only were the funeral services for the dead, as we mentioned above, but, naturally, babies were crowned and baptized.
Emperor Alexander II and the Empress prayed here about getting rid of an attempt on their lives in the Bois de Boulogne in 1867, as well as Emperor Nicholas II with the Empress in 1896.

Alexander I on the steps of the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Alexander Nevsky on Rue Daru in Paris. Late 1920s.
Pablo Picasso was first married here in 1921, when he married the Orthodox Olga Khokhlova, a ballerina who danced in Diaghilev's Russian Ballets.
The witnesses were Sergei Diaghilev, Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob and Guillaume Apollinaire.

And half a century later, in October 1962, the famous French singer Edith Piaf with the young hairdresser Theo Sarapo went through the wedding ceremony in the same church.

In December 1979, musician and conductor Mstislav Rastropovich and his wife Galina Vishnevskaya, a famous singer, held a wedding ceremony for their daughter Elena and her husband Peter Daniel at the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Paris.

In 2007, Vladimir Kramnik and Marie-Laure Germont were married in the cathedral.
Although Marie-Laure is a Protestant, they married Vladimir according to the Orthodox ceremony.
The wedding of the world champion and the French journalist took place without much fanfare - there were only close friends and relatives.
The 10th world chess champion Boris Spassky came from the outskirts of Paris, where he now lives.

In 1996, the church of St. Alexander Nevsky was named a cathedral (that is, the main temple in the city) and in the same year the porch was glazed, which stands on a high porch in the form of a small church.

By the way, opposite the temple is the famous Russian restaurant "In the city of Petrograd" (À la Ville de Petrograd).
This place was very popular with such celebrities as the writer Vladimir Nabokov, the composer Igor Stravinsky and “the first after God in ballet” Sergei Diaghilev.

On November 24, in Paris, a large group of Russian artists held a charity auction of their works in order to raise funds for the renovation of St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.
The exhibition preceding the auction was dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the famous Orthodox church in Paris.
More than three dozen paintings by 28 Russian artists living and working in France and Monaco were shown in the Sialski Gallery exhibition hall on Peter the Great Street in Paris.
These are both descendants of the first waves of immigration and those who arrived in France in recent decades. Among the participants of the action are Georgy Shishkin, Oscar Rabin, Alexey Begov, William Brui, Anatoly Putilin, Katya Zubchenko.

CATHEDRAL OF ALEXANDER NEVSKY IN PARIS

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the full name of St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral [source?] - Cathedral of the Russian St. Alexander Nevsky (canonized in 1547), belonging to the Exarchate of Orthodox Russian Churches in Western Europe (Patriarchate of Constantinople) and located in Paris, in 8th arrondissement, rue Daru; consecrated in 1861.

Funding for the construction was carried out mainly with donations made by Russians in Russia and around the world. Tsar Alexander II made a personal contribution - about 150,000 gold francs.

The project attracted great interest in France. The donations of the Orthodox were joined by the contributions of Catholics and Protestants.

The church became a cathedral in 1922, when Archbishop Evlogiy (Georgievsky) established here the administrative center (chair) of his diocese of parishes of Russian emigrants.

Since 1983, the building has been protected by the French state as a historical monument. Since 1996, extensive restoration work has been carried out.

In 2011, at the cathedral, through the efforts of Archpriest Vasily Shevchuk, the Moldavian Annunciation community was created.

The architects of the church are Roman Ivanovich Kuzmin and Ivan Vasilievich Shtrom. The plan of the church is in the form of a Greek cross. Each ray of the cross ends with an apse. Domed turrets were erected on the apses. Five domes symbolize Christ with 4 evangelists. The central dome rises to a height of 48 m.

On the facade there is a mosaic image "Blessing Savior on the Throne" - a copy of the mosaic from the Church of St. Apollinaris in the Italian city of Ravenna. The author of the mosaic is M. Hertseli.

The Byzantine style is especially felt in the interior decoration and painting of the temple. Many famous artists have worked on icons and frescoes.

On July 12, 1918, Pablo Picasso and ballerina Olga Khokhlova were married in the cathedral. Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob, Sergei Diaghilev and Guillaume Apollinaire were the witnesses.

Many famous Russians were buried here:

Ivan Turgenev (1883)
memorial service for Sergei Diaghilev, who died in Venice (August 27, 1929)
Fyodor Chaliapin (1938)
Wassily Kandinsky (1944)
Anton Denikin (1947)
George Gurdjieff (1949)
Vasily Voskresensky (Colonel de Basil) (1951)
Ivan Bunin (1953)
Boris Zaitsev (1972)
Andrey Tarkovsky (1986)
Bulat Okudzhava (1997)
Henri Troyat (2007)

In 1938, on the initiative and efforts of the Union of Zealots in Memory of Emperor Nicholas II, a cross-monument was erected in the Alexander Nevsky Church “to the Emperor the Great Martyr, His Royal Family, His faithful servants, who accepted the martyr's crown with Him, and to all Russians who were tortured and killed by the godless power ".

For many years the choir director was E. I. Evets, a prominent popularizer of Russian musical culture.

There is a Russian parish school at the church (director - Elizaveta Sergeevna Obolenskaya).

Sources:

Cherkasov-Georgievsky V., "Russian Church in a Foreign Land". Chapter 6. Paris Penates
Kuzmin I. A., "Orthodox Paris" http://www.proza.ru/2011/11/28/1161

Anichkov N.M. Russian Church in Paris. - Magazine "Leningrad Panorama", 1991, no. 9, p. 29-31.