Saint-Séverin, Paris

Saint-Séverin features a flamboyant Gothic bell tower that holds one of the oldest bells in Paris, cast in fourteen twelve. While the current structure dates largely from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, it sits on the site of a sixth-century hermitage dedicated to Saint Séverin. In the seventeenth century, the church became a preferred gathering place for the intellectual elite of the Latin Quarter, including the poet Paul Verlaine, who was baptized here. Its twisting, palm-like pillars define the interior sanctuary.