Some Paris churches

I've been thinking about Paris, partly because the Pope was visiting there but more so because the story in the book I'm listening to, The Magician: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, is taking place there. The book has so far mentioned Sacré-Coeur Basilica, which I posted about a while ago, and I thought I'd take a look at some other churches in Paris via Wikipedia. Here are some photos from a few of them. Follow the links to read more about them and see more pics .....


- the upper chapel of Sainte Chapelle



- interior of the Panthéon, which was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve, but now combines liturgical functions with its role as a famous burial place of notables like Voltaire, Rousseau, Marat, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, and (my favorite :) Alexandre Dumas. Also of interest, Foucault's pendulum was constructed here



- a gnomon is in the background of this pic (see the obelisk?) and in the foreground the brass meridian line lies on the floor of Église Saint-Sulpice .... remember this was part of the plot of The Da Vinci Code?



- the tomb of Descartes, in the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés



- L'église de la Madeleine, began existence as a church named for Mary Magdalene, went through a number of reconstructions and planned purposes, including a temple to the glory of Napoleon's army, and later a possible train station, but was finally consecrated as a church in 1842



- the tomb of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in the Basilique de Saint-Denis, the burial site of almost all the French monarchs since Clovis I (465 - 511)