La Madeleine, Paris
La Madeleine, Paris: a short, easy-to-understand overview
La Madeleine is a Catholic parish church in Paris’s 8th arrondissement, located on Place de la Madeleine. It’s famous for its neoclassical temple look, with a grand row of columns surrounding the building.
A brief history
- The church was planned for Louis XV’s new Rue Royale, at the heart of a grand urban project that led toward Place de la Concorde.
- The first stone was laid in the 1760s, but work stopped during the French Revolution.
- Napoleon redesigned the building as a monument to the Grand Army, using a neoclassical temple idea.
- After Napoleon’s fall, construction resumed and the church was completed in 1842, finally dedicated to Mary Magdalene. It is sometimes called La Madeleine.
Architecture and design
- The plan is a classical Greek-style temple with columns around all four sides (a peripteral temple).
- It features 52 Corinthian columns, each about 20 meters tall.
- The design went through several phases. Early plans were by Contant d’Ivry and Couture; a later revival under architect Pierre-Alexandre Vignon gave the church its current temple form. The interior and exterior have undergone restoration in recent years.
Exterior highlights
- A long colonnade with statues of saints in niches along the exterior walls.
- The large bronze doors on the south portal depict the Ten Commandments, created by Henri de Triqueti.
- Some statues were damaged during World War I, but many remain notable examples of 19th-century sculpture.
Interior and art
- The interior is a single long space with three domes and skylights that provide limited natural light.
- The walls and ceilings are richly decorated with colored marble and gold.
- The choir dome features frescoes by Jules-Claude Ziegler about The History of Christianity and Christianity in France.
- Behind the altar is The Ecstasy of Mary Magdalene by Carlo Marochetti.
- A grand mosaic, Christianity of France, by Louis-Marius-Lameire, decorated with saints connected to France, sits above the altar area and was later joined by other works at the front.
- A large sculpture of The Last Judgment on the pediment is by Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire.
- The church also holds a long tradition of organ music. The main pipe organ, originally built by Aristide Cavaille-Coll in 1845, has been expanded and modified over the years. It has been played by famous organists such as Saint-Saëns, Fauré, and others. François-Henri Houbart is the current titular organist, with Olivier Périn assisting since 2011.
Music and culture
- La Madeleine has a strong musical pedigree. The church hosted many musicians in its history, including the funeral of Frédéric Chopin in 1849 (with a notable arrangement of Mozart’s Requiem).
- The church has also hosted many important composers and organists over the years.
Other aspects
- The building is part of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Paris, Banks of the Seine (inscribed in 1991).
- The basement houses the Foyer de la Madeleine, a dining space run by volunteers that offers meals to subscribers and is decorated by local artists.
- Restoration work on both the interior and exterior began in 2020 and is planned to wrap up around 2024.
La Madeleine remains a striking symbol of Paris: a grand neoclassical church, a hub of music and art, and a historic landmark on one of the city’s most famous squares.
This page was last edited on 1 February 2026, at 21:17 (CET).