Saint-Ambroise, Paris

The twin spires of Saint-Ambroise reach up from the middle of the boulevard, their pointed profiles cut against the Parisian sky. This church replaced a smaller chapel that sat on the site for centuries, but the current structure arrived in the late eighteen sixties when the city pushed for larger spaces to accommodate a growing population. During the Paris Commune in eighteen seventy-one, the neighborhood turned the nave into a meeting hall, where local workers debated politics beneath the high vaulted ceilings.