Париж қаласындағы Сен-Этьен-дю-Мон шіркеуі

Church in Paris, France

Saint Étienne du Mont is a church in Paris, France, on the Montagne Sainte Geneviève in the 5th arrondissement, near the Panthéon. It contains the shrine of St. Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris. The church also contains the tombs of Blaise Pascal and Jean Racine. Jean Paul Marat is buried in the church's cemetery. The sculpted tympanum, The Stoning of Saint Stephen, is the work of French sculptor Gabriel Jules Thomas. Renowned organist, composer, and improviser Maurice Duruflé held the post of Titular Organist at Saint Étienne du Mont from 1929 until his death in 1986.

The west front or façade of the church, in the Renaissance style and in the form of an elongated pyramid of three levels, was built in 1610 following the plan of Charles Guerin. The lowest level is covered with sculpture, and is topped by a triangular classical fronton, with a bas relief depicting the Resurrection of Christ. The central feature of the level above is a Gothic rose window, under a curvilinear fronton, decorated with sculpture depicting the coat of arms of France and those of the old Abbey. On the top level, the triangular gable features an elliptical rose window.

The interior is a that of a hall church of large proportions, sixty nine meters long and 25.5 meters wide. The collateral aisles on either side of the nave and choir are unusually high, and have large windows, filling the church with light. The screen was designed by Antoine Beaucorps, and while its purpose is Gothic, its decoration is French Renaissance. It takes the form of an arched bridge facing the choir with three arcades. A tribune for readings occupies the center facing the nave. Two very elegant spiral stairways give access to the tribune from the sides. The decoration includes two statues of "Renommées", or "Renowned ones," based on classical Roman statues, holding olive branches and crowns. The church is characterized by its curved axis of the nave to the transept, the rood screen (the sole surviving example in Paris) of finely carved stone by Father Biard (1545), his chair designed by Laurent de La Hyre and sculpted by Claude Lestocart and its organ case (1631) (the oldest in the capital). The church also contains the shrine containing the relics of St. Genevieve until 1793 (when they were thrown in the sewer), the tomb of Blaise de Vigenere, of Blaise Pascal, of Racine, and Mg Sibour.

Behind the altar in the apse at the east end of the church is the semi circular Chapel of the Virgin. A small cloister was built at the east end of the church between 1605 and 1609. It originally enclosed a small cemetery, but no longer has any tombs. The interior originally contained three galleries with twenty four stained glass windows, made with great realism with the use of enamel paints baked onto the glass. The windows illustrated scenes from the Old Testament and New Testament, as well as scenes of Paris life. Twelve of the original windows survived the Revolution and can be seen today, including the "Adoration of the Holy Sacrament" and the "Mystic Wine Press.

The Chapel of Communion (also known as the Cloister Gallery or Chamber of Catechisms) adjoining the choir originally contained the remains of clerics of the church, and was known for that reason as the "Chapel of the Charnel House". Late in the French Revolution, the bodies of Jean Paul Marat, after he was killed by Charlotte Corday, and Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau (1795) were removed from the Panthéon, where they had been placed as revolutionary heroes, and kept in the chapel until they were later buried in ordinary graves. During the First World War, when Paris was being bombarded by German artillery outside the city, a group of twelve 17th century stained glass windows, belonging to the Churches of Saint Eustache, Paris; Saint Germain l'Auxerrois; Saint Merri; and Saint Eustache were transferred to the chapel for their protection. Following the war, the windows remained there, and underwent restoration, funded by the City of Paris. Unlike most other Paris stained glass windows of that period, they are at eye level and can be examined up close. The case of the organ of the tribune was made beginning in 1633 by Jean Buron, and is the oldest and best preserved original case in Paris. It is topped by sculpture of Christ surrounded by angels playing the kinnor, an ancient Hebrew variation of the lyre.