Rue de Rivoli - Paris, France

Church St. Germain-l'Auxerrois

If you go to the Rue de Rivoli farther west, towards the Champs Elysees, to the left you will see the Louvre. But even before reaching the Louvre, in front of his East Wing, even from our shelter from the rain - from under the arcades Rivoli - is clearly visible at the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois.
This church was the church of the French kings, who lived in the Louvre. Straight from here the signal bell was brought to the elimination of the Huguenots - the beginning of the infamous St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.
However, it was not a big bell tower, which can be seen in the picture, but the small one on the other side of the church.

Built in the late Gothic ("Flamboyant") the Church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois is dedicated to Saint Germain of Auxerre. Saint Germain was the bishop of the city Auxerre, located about halfway from Paris to Dijon.
(The town produces, by the way, the famous Chablis wine.)

At the Louvre

We keep going along the Rue de Rivoli (in the rain) and pass along the northern wing of the Louvre that is built in the mid-19^th century, styled in accordance with the Rue de Rivoli.

Underground Station "Musée du Louvre"

For me, the Louvre is primarily a place where D'Artagnan had received the ring from the hands of Queen Anne - a reward for that that he brought her diamond jewels back.

Once built as a fortress, then rebuilt for the royal palace, the Louvre had already in 1793 became a museum, open to the public. However, it happened much later.

Now this museum, though not the world's largest by area (the third after Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg), but the most visited Museum in the world.

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