temple (thing)

In France, the Temple was a monastery in Paris, built during the 13th century. During the French Revolution, one of the towers of the Temple was used as a prison for Louis XVI and the royal family, from August 10, 1792 until their executions.

The name "Temple" was also applied to churches in Paris and elsewhere in France, after the Convention abolished Catholicism (October 14, 1793).

The following is a partial list of some of the more notable Temples in Paris:

• Temple de l'Agriculture - Church of Saint-Eustache
• Temple de la Bienfaisance - Church of Saint-Jacques du Haut-Pas
• Temple de la Paix - Chapelle de Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin. After the convents were suppressed, in 1790, this had became a center for the Théophilantropes¹.
• Temple de la Piété Filiale - Church of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont
• Temple de la Raison - Notre-Dame-de-Paris
• Temple de la Reconnaissance - Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois
• Temple de la Victoire - Saint-Sulpice. Site of the meetings of the Théophilantropes in 1793, and of a banquet in honour of Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1799.
• Temple de l'Hymen - Church of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs
• Temple de l'Immortalité - The Panthéon
• Temple de l'Industrie - The name applied to a five-day public exhibition of French industrial products, held in the Champ de Mars in September 1789
• Temple de Mars - Chapelle des Invalides
• Temple de Terpsichore - The name applied to the theater in the Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin in the hôtel of Mademoiselle Guimard, a celebrated danseuse of the Paris Opera. Built by Ledoux at the end of the reign of Louis XV, it was purchased in 1796 by the banker Peregaux.
• Temple du Génie - Church of Saint-Roch (1793)
• Temple du Travail - Church of Saint-Médard

Note(s):

¹ See Theophilanthropy.

Addenda:

In modern French, temple can also mean a Protestant church. I am uncertain whether this usage has any relationship to the above. (Thanks to Albert Herring for reminding me of this.)

I am also reminded (by thbz - thanks!) that, naturally, temple can also mean other non-Catholic (e.g. Buddhist, Greek-Orthodox, Hindu) places of worship.