Église Saint-Pierre du Gros Caillou

Église Saint-Pierre du Gros Caillou stands in Paris as a Roman Catholic parish church with neoclassical architecture and a history reaching into seventeenth-century growth. Its name recalls a large boulder marking an old parish boundary. The boulder marked the boundary between parishes attached to Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Sainte-Geneviève. Population growth crowded Saint-Sulpice in Paris’s seventh arrondissement. A proposal for a new church appeared in 1652, while construction began in 1733. Architect Jean Chalgrin supplied rebuilding designs in 1755. The Revolution interrupted completion and led to demolition, leaving the same name for a later church. Etienne-Hippolyte Godde designed that replacement on the same site. The replacement began in 1822 and reached completion in 1833, establishing the church’s neoclassical form. Its façade presents a peristyle with Doric columns and minimal decoration. Inside, rows of Doric pillars support curved arches beneath a vaulted ceiling with sculpted roses. The Chapel of the Virgin adds right angles and vivid stained glass from 1971. A painting shows Saint Francis praying, and Jean Batiste Marie Pierre created the work. The church holds the remains of Jean-Sylvain Bailly, Paris’s first mayor in 1789.