Saint-Eustache Church

Situated in the historic neighborhood of Les Halles food markets, Saint-Eustache continues to bear the memory of the merchants and guilds who surrounded the second largest church in Paris after Notre-Dame. Constructed  between 1532 and  1637, the church reflects the Gothic Flamboyant style with Renaissance elements. Modifications to the façade continued until the 18th  century. After being damaged by fire in 1844 and during the Paris Commune of 1871, Saint-Eustache was completely restored by the city architect Victor Baltard, who supervised both the restoration of the earlier interiors and the conception of an Art Nouveau iconographic program for the mural painting throughout the space. Today, Saint-Eustache is home to a number of artistic masterpieces. World Monuments Fund supported the City of Paris in restoring the church starting in 2021.

Speaker: Paul Percetti is responsible for sponsorship and partnerships for the City of Paris. He holds a master’s degree in Public Policy and Public Affairs from Sciences Po, one of France’s leading institutions.

Series Curator and Moderator: Russell Kelley was the curator and moderator of the past four winters’ Zoom lecture series on the “Grands Châteaux of the Loire and Île de France”, “The Making of the French Garden”, “The Great Churches of Paris”, and “The Making of the Museums of Paris”. He is the author of The Making of Paris: The Story of How Paris Evolved from a Fishing Village into the World’s Most Beautiful City (Lyons Press, 2021), and has lived in Paris for more than 30 years.