A little history of Sainte-Clotilde church in Paris
And also
The tops
Clotilde! Immortalized with her husband, king Clovis, under the big porch, among other Merovingian princes... With its 70 metres high spire, the basilica is pretty impressive! A real medieval cathedral...
Oh, not really. In fact, i's a pastiche from the 19th century! At that time, people loved medieval stuff... In the past, we found here a small chapel dedicated to Saint-Valère... which was destroyed.
In 1827, they decided to rebuild a church. Architect from Cologne Christian Gau started the building site in 1846: he was inspired by Gothic cathedral of Rouen, in Normandy! But Gau died in 1853...
Théodore Ballu, his partner, finished the church 4 years later. Pope Leon XIII set it up as a minor basilica in 1897, in order to celebrate king Clovis' baptism!