Église St-Étienne du Mont

Latin Quarter


The Church of Mount St Stephen, built between 1492 and 1655, contains Paris’ only surviving rood screen (1521–45), separating the chancel from the nave; the others were removed during the late Renaissance because they prevented the faithful in the nave from seeing the priest celebrate Mass.

In the nave’s southeastern corner, the tomb of Ste Geneviève lies in a chapel.

The patron saint of Paris, Ste Geneviève was born at Nanterre in AD 422 and turned away Attila the Hun from Paris in AD 451. A highly decorated reliquary near her tomb contains all that is left of her earthly remains – a finger bone.

Fans of the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris will recognise the stone steps on the northwestern corner as the place where Owen Wilson's character is collected by vintage car and transported back to the 1920s.


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