Temple du Marais

The Temple du Marais, sometimes known as the Temple Sainte-Marie, or historically, as the Church of Sainte Marie de la Visitation, is a Protestant church located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, in the district of Le Marais at 17 Rue Saint-Antoine. It was originally built as a Roman Catholic convent by the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, whose sisters were commonly called the Visitandines. The church was closed in the French Revolution and later given to a Protestant congregation which continues its ministry to the present. The closest métro station is Bastille

The Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary was founded in 1610 by Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Jane de Chantal in Annecy as a Catholic religious order of nuns. It started a convent in Paris in 1619 which built the current church and the crest of the order still surmounts the rose window above the entrance. The building was designed by François Mansart in 1632, in the Baroque style. The church's benefactor, Noël Brûlart de Sillery, an admirer of the Pantheon in Rome, desired a centralized plan. Mansart, no doubt also influenced by the chapel of the Château d'Anet, delivered a highly original design with eight interconnected subsidiary spaces surrounding the central 44 feet dome including the sanctuary to the south, the vestibule to the north, three chapels, two sacrisites, and the nun's choir to the west. The design for the exterior was also quite original with the street elevation's three components, the arch with its Michelangelo inspired portal and projecting cross, the toit à l'impèriale with its lantern, and the cross-topped spire, drawing the eye heavenward. The building's construction was overseen by the master mason contractor Michel Villedo.

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