La Madeleine church

L'église de la Madeleine, popularly known as La Madeleine, is a Roman Catholic church located at the Place de la Madeleine, north of the Place de la Concorde, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. The construction of the church started in 1764 and was led by the architect Pierre Constant d'Ivry who wanted to model it on the Invalides church. After the architect's death, however, the project was taken over by Guillome-Martin Couture who abandoned this idea. He, unlike his predecessor, wanted to base the design on the Panthéon. During the French Revolution the construction works were suspended until 1806, when Napoleon decided to erect a temple to the greater glory of his army. Pierre-Alexandre Vignon was appointed as the new architect. His design of the temple was inspired by an ancient Roman temple in the French city of Nîmes - Maison Carrée. However, after the construction of the Arc de Triomphe, a monument honouring the French Army, the building of the temple had to adopt a new function and was eventually consecrated as a church.

The neo-classical building of the church is surrounded by 52 Corinthian columns that are 20 metres high. The main entrance to the church, the bronze door decorated with reliefs representing the Ten Commandments by Henri de Triqueti, is surmounted by a pediment with a sculpture of the Last Judgement by Lemaire. The church has a single nave with three domes. Standing above the altar, there is a statue of St Mary Magdalene and the angels by Charles Marochetti. Inside the church one can also find a pipe organ, the work of Cavaillé-Coll, which are still in use today.