Detail View: Archivision Base to Module 9: Church of the Val-de-Grâce

Preferred Title: 
Church of the Val-de-Grâce
Alternate Title: 
Église du Val-de-Grâce
Image View: 
Detail of supports of dome drum, ornamentation by Philippe de Buyster
Creator: 
François Mansart (French architect, ca. 1598-1666); Jacques Lemercier (French architect, ca.1584-1654); Pierre Le Muet (French architect, 1591-1669)
Location: 
site: Paris, Île-de-France, France
Location Note: 
5th arrondissement; 1, place Alphonse Laveran
GPS: 
+48.840833+2.341944
Date: 
ca. 1645-1667 (creation)
Cultural Context: 
French
Style Period: 
Baroque; Seventeenth century
Work Type 1: 
church
Classification: 
architecture
Technique: 
carving (processes); construction (assembling)
Inscription: 
Porch pediment: "IESU NASCENTI VIRGINIQ(UE) MATRI."
Description: 
The Church of the Val-de-Grâce is the church of a former royal abbey in what is now the Val-de-Grâce Hospital. The dome of the church is a principal landmark of the skyline of Paris. The church was initially designed by François Mansart, succeeded by Jacques Lemercier, who designed the dome. In 1645 Mansart was appointed by the queen, Anne of Austria, to add a church to the convent of the Val-de-Grâce, which she frequently visited on retreat. For this project Mansart devised a highly imaginative scheme based on the Escorial in Spain, where Anne had spent her youth. His design for the church was original in many respects, with bell-towers flanking the nave and a projecting single-storey entrance portico, more reminiscent of his château frontispieces than of a conventional church front. Mansart left the project after only one year. The abbey was turned into a military hospital after the French Revolution, but the church was preserved. (Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/)
Collection: 
Archivision Addition Module Nine
Identifier: 
1A2-F-P-VDG-B04
Rights: 
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.