La Madeleine

As you approach La Madeleine, notice how it lacks the traditional bell towers or crucifixes you expect on a church. This building was modeled after a Roman temple, specifically the Maison Carrée in the city of Nîmes. King Louis the Fifteenth originally commissioned it in seventeen sixty-four, but the French Revolution halted construction for years, leaving the site as a hollow shell. When you look at its fifty-two massive Corinthian columns, you are seeing a design that was completely overhauled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who decided he wanted the structure to serve as a temple dedicated to the glory of his own army rather than a house of worship.