A Touchstone (for me, at least) in Paris

Four years ago we were walking around Rue Francois Miron and happened upon an organ concert in St. Gervais Church.

The church of St. Gervais.

The church of St. Gervais, courtesy of Julian.

Interior of St. Gervais, courtesy of Julian.

Interior of St. Gervais, courtesy of Julian.

While we were listening to the concert, I noticed that some of the stained-glass windows looked way too modern for such an old church.

Windows of St. Gervais. It's a bit hard to see, but the left and middle windows are definitely more modern than the one on the right.

Windows of St. Gervais. It’s a bit hard to see, but the left and middle windows are definitely more modern than the one on the right.

A trip to Google revealed the answer: The church was bombed by the Germans during World War I–on Good Friday, no less. Over 80 people were killed in the bombing.

Today we were back in the neighborhood and stopped inside the church. Unlike the other churches we visited this week, there were very few visitors inside. The organist was practicing at the time. I found the memorial to the victims of the bombing, which we hadn’t seen four years ago. It was a respite from the rampant throngs of tourists.

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