A little history of Saint-Roch church in Paris
And also
The tops
In the beginning of the 16th century, people from St-Honoré district wanted a brand new church. They were far from every Parisian parish...
Until 1518: a merchant decided to found a small oratory in his house located at the corner of rue Neuve-Saint-Honoré and rue Michault-Regnault (current rue Saint-Roch).
Dedicated to Jesus Christ in 1521 and consecrated in 1525, the chapel was too small, again, because there were lots of believers in this district.
Well, in August 1578, a church dedicated to Saint-Roch was raised! Completed in 1588, they rebuilt it in 1653 based on plans by Jacques Le Mercier.
Ann of Austria and her son Louis XIV came themselves to lay the first stone down! Jules Hardouin-Mansart took up again the building work when Le Mercier died.
But they lacked money... Finally, in 1719, the famous Scottish banker Law, who lived place Vendôme, gave 100 000 livres to finish the church...
Did you know that in front of the façade raised in 1736 by Robert de Cotte, Napoleon Bonaparte shot insurgents on October 5th 1795?