A French Collection joins the American Friends for the Preservation of Saint Germain des Prés Church to help save the oldest church in Paris which would you believe dates back to 543.
Adopt A Star - The Oldest Church in Paris
As you can imagine after centuries of use and dirt build up, any building will show its age and need to be restored, and Paris' oldest church, Saint Germain des Prés is one such building definitely needing restoration. When I read about the American Friends for the Preservation of Saint Germain des Prés Church raising funds in the unique way of offering 800 'stars' on the celestial ceiling of the Monk's Choir for adoption, I knew I had to get on board. The project started with 3,000 stars available for adoption on the ceilings of the Transept and the Nave but due to the popularity of the project there are now around 800 stars available.
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While restoration is underway, the church remains open for visitors to see the process and with approximately 85 percent of the funding coming from private donations, the restoration is expected to finish in 2021.
So here's some information about the organisations involved; American Friends for the Preservation of Saint Germain des Prés is a non-profit organisation working to fund the restoration of the church. They are working with their French counterparts at The Preservation of Saint Germain des Prés Foundation to facilitate donations in funding, initially, the Provisional Phase 1 of the restoration process.
I simply love Paris and her residents and I am so happy spending time walking the cobbled streets, shopping for items to furnish my French country home, trying new cafes or eating at my 'old favourites', and of course, absorbing the history and culture by visiting museums, monuments and ancient structures, that I felt drawn to this project.
It just seemed the right thing to do to support the heritage of Paris and especially the Saint Germain des Prés Church, as it was literally the first church I visited on my first trip to Paris and the church I share with my guests on Day 1 of my Classic Paris Tours.
This is the first act of sponsorship or preservation of Parisian monuments or places of significance that A French Collection has become involved in, but I hope to donate to more worthy preservation causes in Paris. Each purchase of our My Beautiful French Collection Box subscriptions or Paris and Brittany Tours will assist in our donating.
Adopting a star means that the celestial ceiling star will be credited with your name and visible on an interactive map and of course when you visit the church you will be able to look up and see your star (maybe take your opera glasses). I chose a star that I could easily locate when standing in the Church and I simply cannot wait to see it next time I'm in Paris ... I also can't wait for our tour guests to see the shiny golden star we've adopted.
Address: Place Saint-Germain des Prés, 75006 Paris.
