Église Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre (Church of Saint Julian the Poor) is a Melkite Greek Catholic parish church, located on the left bank of the river Seine, about 500 metres away from the Musée de Cluny and nearby the Maubert-Mutualité Paris Métro station. It’s one of the city’s oldest religious buildings.
The church was dedicated to the two medieval French saints of the same name: Julian of Le Mans and a figure from the region of Dauphiné. ‘The poor’ is said to originate from Julian of Le Mans, whose dedication to the cause of the poor was considered exemplary.
The construction of the church began in the 12th century and was completed in the end of the 19th century. In 1889 the temple was granted to the Eastern Catholic Melkite community, while before that, it served as a Roman Catholic place of worship.
Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre replaced a Merovingian refuge for pilgrims, or an older church dating back to the 6th century. The construction of the new building began around 1165. It was supported by the Clunaic monastic community of Longpont, and their enterprise resulted in the completion of the choir and, most likely, the nave. According to the 16th century chronicler Étienne Pasquier, the site was connected with the University of Paris foundation, serving as a site for its School of Theology and Arts, and, after the resulting split between the faculties, only as the School of Arts. All early construction seems to have stopped around 1250.
During the French Revolution, the building was listed for demolition,and as a result, it suffered serious damage. In the first half of the 19th century, Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre underwent restoration.
The temple is built in the Gothic style. Its original design was modified several times, so the resulting church is much smaller than originally planned. The building has piers replicating those found in Notre Dame, and the chapiters are carved with images of leaves and harpies. The choir area is presently covered by an iconostasis.
Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre was designed in the conservative tradition prevalent during the rule of King Louis the Younger. The only one of the city’s 12th-century parish churches to have endured, it was never completed in its original design: the choir area was intended to be three storeys high, and the clerestory is an incomplete triforium; the nave was supposed to be covered by sexpartite vaults, which were replaced by a wooden roof and, after the 17th century, by a new system of vaults; and, of a tower meant to stand on the church’s southern side, only the construction of staircase was begun. Material from an older building was used to build the apses. In 1651, following several centuries of neglect, two of the original bays in the nave were demolished, and a northwestern facade was added; the northern aisle was preserved, and two of its bays serve as a sacristy.