ENSURING THE PRESERVATION OF HISTORY
FOR GENERATIONS TO COME
The Saint Germain des Prés church is a listed ‘Monument Historique’ (1862).
The restoration of the church was launched in 2012 under the authority of the City of Paris and other regional, civic, historical, and preservation organizations. The works are under the direction of Pierre-Antoine Gatier.
The renovation has been laid out in five successive tranches. Renovation of each tranche is contingent
upon the completion of all works in the previous tranche and a full pre-funding of the upcoming tranche.
Works had originally been scheduled to be completed by the Fall of 2021.. Owing to the covid pandemic, works were stopped in 2020 after completion of the fourth restoration tranche. In late 2022 and early 2023, Paris city authorities finally authorized a post-covid resumption of the restoration. The fifth and and final tranche of the works got underway in June 2023. It is now expected that, subject to funding needs being met, the entire project will be completed in 2024.
The budgeted cost to complete the entire project is approximately $8.5 million. As agreed with the contracting civic authorities, approximately 85% of the project’s cost will be borne by private donors.
As of Spring 2023, the four completed renovation tranches have been fully funded. Fundraising for the fifth and final tranche has now (June 2023) begun in earnest. .
Thanks to generous donors across the United States and around the world, ‘American Friends for the
Preservation of Saint Germain des Prés’ has been able to contribute a substantial portion of funds raised to date. It is now committed to a final push to get the project ‘over the line’.
For a complete and detailed account of the extraordinary renovation of Paris’s oldest church, we invite you to consult the Restoration Catalogue below or by following this link