Originally designed as a temple to the glory of Napoleon’s army and built in a neo-classical style, La Madeleine is now a Roman Catholic church dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, where masses and other religious services, as well as funerals and the most fashionable weddings in Paris still take place.
The church was built in a neo-classical style. Its design, with its fifty-two 20-metre-high Corinthian columns, was inspired by the Maison Carrée at Nîmes- one of the best-preserved of all Roman temples. Inside, the church has a single nave with three domes over wide, lavishly gilded arched bays, as well as sculptures and frescoes.
Although the church in its present form was designed as a temple to the glory of Napoleon’s army, its construction dates back to 1757, when the reconstruction of the older church consecrated to Mary Magdalene was considered. During the French Revolution the construction was discontinued and it wasn’t until 1842 that the church was consecrated.
In 1806 Napoleon decided to build the so-called ‘Temple to the Glory of the Great Army’, based on the design of an antique temple. The existing foundations were again razed and work began anew. After the fall of Napoleon, with the Catholic reaction during the Restoration, King Louis XVIII determined that the structure would be used as a church dedicated to Mary Magdalene.
Today the Madeleine is a parish of the Archdiocese of Paris affiliated with a Benedictine abbey and besides masses and other religious services, such as funerals and the most fashionable weddings in Paris, it also organises concerts on pipe organs, which are regarded to be among the best in Paris.