St. Sulpice

St.Sulpice could be the most famous church which few people visit. I say this because every time I have gone, it has been close to empty except for myself and 15 other people at the most. How can this be? A very well known site in Paris and no lines to get in? No chest to back crowds? No noise? I must admit that I only went to Notre Dame long after other visits to Paris. I was always turned off by the huge crowds and the notion of waiting in line to go to church. It seemed rather un-Godly to me. After I finally got in, I must admit to feeling a little underwhelmed. Yes, it is beautiful and it's history is undeniable, but I had difficulty enjoying the marvel. Tour groups racing past me. People screeching and pointing at some detail from some famous novel*. In the end, I just wanted out. This brings me back to St. Sulpice. It is constantly under restoration. Parts of the exterior, as well as the interior are crumbling and you are afraid something will fall on you, but St.Sulpice is beautiful, haunting, mysterious, and best of all, free of crowds. Located between St.Germain-des-Pres and Jardin du Luxembourg, on Rue Bonaparte, St. Sulpice is a classic, Italian style church which took over 134 years to build. Despite it's relative newness compared with many of Paris' other churches, St. Sulpice does not suffer from it. It looks and feels solid with lots of rough edges and dark corners. Apparently this church is also mentioned in that famous novel* I mentioned before, but I have never read said novel* so can not make references as such. Once inside St.Sulpice, what is most evident, that it is dark. Even on the brightest day, it is a dark place. There are paintings by one of the greats of 19th Century Romanticism, Eugene Delacroix. The windows are free of color so the light is a cloudy white, filtering in on sharp rays. The church feels grand, but not overwhelming. Don't expect a polished pristine place. St. Sulpice is dusty and sooty and in desperate need of repair, but this said, it is also full of what one expects when visiting an old church. There is the feeling that people worshiped here and still do. There is a soulfulness there which I found missing at Notre Dame. The history has not been scrubbed away yet. If the mood and time is right, it is something of an emotional place. After moving here, I began taking french classes a couple of blocks away from St.Sulpice. After class I would often visit the church, take photos or just discover a new detail missed at other times. Place St.Sulpice, just in front of the church, has a large fountain. I ate lunch there with a classmate most Mondays. Perhaps with all these frequent visits, I have developed a biased and nonobjective opinion of St.Sulpice. Still, I encourage others to save the visit to Notre Dame for another time. If you just want to relax a bit, take your time and on the way to the Jardin Luxembourg anyway, see St.Sulpice and let me know what you think.