Church of Saint-Sulpice
| Saint-Sulpice | |
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Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris
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| Basic information | |
| Location | Place Saint-Sulpice, 6th arrondissement, Paris |
| Geographic coordinates | 48°51′04″N 2°20′05″E / 48.85111°N 2.33472°ECoordinates: 48°51′04″N 2°20′05″E / 48.85111°N 2.33472°E |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic Church |
| Province | Archdiocese of Paris |
| Country | France |
| Architectural description | |
| Architectural type | church |
| Groundbreaking | 1646 |
| Completed | 1870 |
Saint-Sulpice (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃sylpis]) is a Roman Catholic church in Paris, France, on the east side of the Place Saint-Sulpice within the rue Bonaparte, in the Odéon Quarter of the 6th arrondissement. At 113 metres long, 58 metres in width and 34 metres tall, it is only slightly smaller than Notre-Dame and thus the second largest church in the city. It is dedicated to Sulpitius the Pious. Construction of the present building, the second church on the site, began in 1646. During the 18th century, an elaborate gnomon, the Gnomon of Saint-Sulpice, was constructed in the church.
The present church is the second building on the site, erected over a Romanesque church originally constructed during the 13th century. Additions were made over the centuries, up to 1631. The new building was founded in 1646 by parish priest Jean-Jacques Olier (1608–1657) who had established the Society of Saint-Sulpice, a clerical congregation, and a seminary attached to the church. Anne of Austria laid the first stone.
Construction began in 1646 to designs which had been created in 1636 by Christophe Gamard, but the Fronde interfered, and only the Lady Chapel had been built by 1660, when Daniel Gittard provided a new general design for most of the church. Gittard completed the sanctuary, ambulatory, apsidal chapels, transept, and north portal (1670–1678), after which construction was halted for lack of funds.
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