Commemorative Plaque Marking the Site of the Charenton Temple

A plaque in Saint-Maurice marks the site of the Charenton Temple, which was built following the proclamation of the Edict of Nantes in 1598 and whose construction began in 1607.
The Edict of Nantes granted freedom of worship but prohibited the construction of Protestant temples within five leagues (just over 15 kilometers) of a bishop’s seat. As a result, the first places of worship for Parisian Protestants were established in Grigny, and later in Ablon. However, the distance proved burdensome, prompting numerous complaints from the Reformed community. In response, Henry IV authorized the construction of a temple on the territory of what is now the commune of Saint-Maurice, then part of the parish of Charenton-Saint-Maurice.

The first building was designed by architect Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, but it was ransacked as early as 1615 and then set on fire in 1621. Louis XIII permitted its reconstruction, which was carried out under the direction of Salomon de Brosse, architect of the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. Completed in 1624, it was a particularly large structure, capable of accommodating up to 4,000 worshippers.

The Charenton Temple was ultimately destroyed in 1685, in just five days, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In 1700, the land was sold to the Benedictine nuns of the Val d’Osne, who established a convent there. Though the convent was dismantled during the French Revolution, its memory endures in the name of the street that now leads from the Plateau district to the Marne River.

Two hundred years later, in 1890, a new temple was built in the nearby commune of Charenton-le-Pont.