Heritage
Discovering the Orthodox churches of Paris
Since the appearance of the new Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Paris, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there has been a new interest in Orthodox places of worship in Paris and the surrounding region.
In December 2016, a new place of worship was consecrated by Patriarch Cyril, just a stone's throw from the Musée du Quai Branly and the Eiffel Tower. This marvel of contemporary architecture, with its golden domes and minimalist style, was designed by the architects Wilmotte & Associés, as were the spaces surrounding it, which house a cultural centre with exhibition halls and an educational centre. Crowned with five completely smooth bulbs covered in very pale gold leaf, its highest cross rising to over 36 metres, it blends harmoniously into the landscape along the banks of the Seine through the elegance of its materials and colours, a cameo of white, grey and gold...
Before that, the Russian community used to go to the church in the rue Daru. Built thanks to a subscription, it was consecrated in 1861 and dedicated to Saint Alexander Nevsky, Prince of Novgorod and a great Russian hero. Designed in the shape of a Greek cross, the interior is entirely decorated with frescoes and gilded wood, while the exterior is in the Byzantine-Moscovite style with five small gilded bulbs - the number five referring to Christ accompanied by the four evangelists - surmounted by a cross. It was in this church, now a listed monument, that on 12 July 1918 Pablo Picasso married the Russian dancer Olga Khokhlova, a member of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes troupe. Their witnesses were neither painters nor dancers, but poets: Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob and Guillaume Apollinaire!
On Rue George Bizet, near the Pont de l'Alma, you'll find another cathedral that follows the Greek rite of Constantinople. In Romanesque-Byzantine style, Saint Etienne (also known as Saint Stéphane) was inaugurated in 1895. While its architecture is fairly sober, with a large dome on pendentives, the interior is lavishly decorated with frescoes and a rich marble iconostasis. It was here that the famous singer Maria Callas had her funeral in 1977!
There are many other more modest Orthodox churches to discover in Paris, such as the one at 91 rue Lecourbe, charming and at the back of a courtyard, or the one at 93 rue de Crimée, which has a curious decorated wooden porch in the middle of an island of greenery!
Published on 22/11/2023
