La Madeleine

A temple in the middle of Paris, planned at first by Napoleon as a “Temple of Glory” for his armies: a Corinthian peripteros of 52 columns in the manner of the Parthenon, but raised on a Roman podium. After the Empire fell it was turned into a Catholic church dedicated to Mary Magdalene. Its façade closes the view down the rue Royale, facing the place de la Concorde. Inside it is a vaulted church, which the temple exterior gives no hint of.