1. Church of St. Julien le Pauvre
2. Chaplain's Lodging
3. Chapel of St. Blaise and St. Louis
4. Maison du Cheval Rouge
5. Maison des Deux Cygnes (Signes)
6. Other medieval houses
7. rue St. Julien le Pauvre
8. rue Galande

The 13th-century structure known as the Chapel of St. Blaise and St. Louis originally belonged to the Priory of St. Julien le Pauvre, and stood just south of the church behind the Maison du Cheval Rouge, a house in the rue Galande. (See plan above). Very little is known about its early history, but it is believed that the building served as the Priory's chapter house or refectory, or possibly as a private chapel.[1] As in the case of the Church of St. Julien le Pauvre, the actual date of the chapel's construction is unknown. Several sources date it at around 1200 [2], possibly based on the remaining stonework of its cellars, although one other surviving fragment, a window, is obviously from a later period. An 18th-century plan of the chapel shows that the structure was quite small, consisting of a nave of only three bays, without side aisles.[3]

By 1476, The Confrerie of Masons and Carpenters had established themselves in this chapel, and renamed it for the patron saints of the masons, St. Blaise (Bishop of Sebastea, martyred ca. 312) and St. Louis (King Louis IX of France, 1215-1270). They renovated the building, decorating it with murals depicting scenes from the life of St. Louis, and constructing a new portal which opened onto a narrow passageway leading to the rue Galande, next to the Maison du Cheval Rouge, which was owned by the confrerie.[4] Considering the amount of work the masons and carpenters put into the chapel, it seems likely that the Priory must have sold the building to them around this time. The ownership of the chapel would become the subject of a lawsuit a few centuries later.

The chapel was renovated by the confrerie for a second time in 1684.[5] By then, the Priory of St. Julien le Pauvre no longer existed, and its property had been ceded to the Hôtel Dieu of Paris in 1655. (See History for more details about the Priory's demise). The administrators of the hospital evidently believed that the Chapel of St. Blaise was still a dependency of the priory at the time they took possession, and thus should have been handed over to them as well. They eventually filed a lawsuit in Parlement claiming ownership of the building. In 1745, court-appointed experts were sent to examine the chapel to determine whether or not it should be considered part of the property of the former priory. [6] A plan and elevation drawings prepared by these experts show architectural details such as a Gothic window in the eastern gable of the structure and a large statue of the Virgin which stood at the portal. [7] The court ruled on the matter in 1748, declaring the masons and carpenters to be the sole proprietors. [8] Disappointed, but still determined to have the chapel, the Hôtel Dieu bought the now-decrepit building from the confrerie in 1764 for 30,000 livres, only to demolish it soon afterwards.[9]

After the Revolution, the hospital sold the land on which the chapel once stood, and around 1812, several new houses were constructed on the rue Galande, which encorporated the old foundations and parts of the old walls of their medieval predecessor. One of these (present-day no. 48 rue Galande) was built on the site of the old Maison du Cheval Rouge and the Chapel of St. Blaise and St. Louis. The second building, (present-day no. 46 rue Galande) was built on the site of the old Maison des Deux Cygnes (House of Two Swans). [10] Many years later, no. 46 became a restaurant, named the Auberge des Deux Signes (Inn of Two Signs, a play on the name of the original medieval house). During a 1969 renovation, the owner discovered a buried treasure--the Flamboyant Gothic window of the eastern gable of the Chapel of St. Blaise and St. Louis, which had been hidden within an old wall for centuries. [11] The delicate stone tracery was uncovered and restored, and for many years it delighted the eyes of visitors and diners. (See photo at left, which shows a drawing of it that was formerly displayed in the front window of the restaurant).

When I visited Paris in 2001, the Auberge des Deux Signes had closed, and the building was sold. Later, I learned that it was renovated and converted to apartments. The old window of the Chapel of St. Blaise and St. Louis is no longer accessible to the public but it has been carefully preserved, as shown in this recent photo by Armand Tchouhadjian (used here by permission of the photographer, © 2004, all rights reserved).

A very similar pair of windows can be seen nearby at the Musée de Cluny. They came from the Chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle in the Church of St.-Jean-de-Latran, and were remounted in the the chapel on the north side of the Musée de Cluny after Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle was torn down in 1860. It is possible that the same architect may have designed these windows and the one at the Chapel of St. Blaise and St. Louis. [12]

Final note: In 2007, the Parish of St. Julien le Pauvre signed a lease with the the Fondation Jérôme Lejeune, to establish a parish hall at no. 48, rue Galande, which is built on the site of the former Chapel of Saint Blaise and Saint Louis. According to the official website of the Parish, the Salle Saint Blaise was inaugurated and blessed on Dec. 2, 2007. And so the Church of St. Julien le Pauvre is reunited at last with its long-lost chapel, making both a happy ending and a new beginning to their joined histories.

[1] Jules Viatte, L'Église Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre de Paris: Monographie de l'Église et de ses Environs, (Chateaudun: Typo. Du Patriote, H. Prudhomme, 1898), p. 36. Viatte quotes directly from Jean-Aimar Piganiol de la Force's Description Historique de la Ville de Paris et des Environs, 1755, and Jacques Du Breuil's Le Theatre des Antiquitez de Paris, 1612.

[2] Jacques Hillairet, Dictionnaire Historique des Rues de Paris, 8th ed., 2 vols., (Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1985), vol. 1, p. 565.

[3] Plans relatifs au prieuré de Saint-Julien, XVIIe- XVIIIe siècles, Archives de l'Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, C-1378, Plan 319, 1746.

[4] Viatte, p. 36, quoting Du Breuil's description of the chapel.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Administration Général de l'Assistance Publique à Paris, Collection de Documents pour Servir à l'Histoire des Hôpitaux de Paris, (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1881-1887), Tome Premier: Délibérations de l'Ancien Bureau de l'Hôtel-Dieu, p. 348.

[7] Plans relatifs au prieuré de Saint-Julien, Plan 319.

[8] Armand Le Brun, L'Église St.-Julien-le-Pauvre d'apres les Historiens et des Documents Inédits Tirés des Archives de l'Assistance Publique, (Paris: En vente à l'église, 1889), p. 26.

[9] Ibid., p. 87. Some sources give 1765 as the year in which the chapel was demolished, others put it around 1770.

[10] "Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre," Paris aux Cent Villages, no. 7 (January 1976), p. 108-109.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Paris 1400: les arts sous Charles VI, (Paris: Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux/Librairie Arthème Fayard, 2004), p. 81-86.