Midnight in Paris - the steps, the church, the chiming clock

In the 2011 Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris, character Gil (played by Owen Wilson) waits for the clock to strike the twelve strokes of midnight – to transport him to the 1920s heydeys when American authors and creatives lived in Paris. He is waiting on the steps of the church, Saint-Etienne-due-Mont near the Pantheon in Paris.

The road is the Montagne Sainte-Genevieve that leads to the church. The church originates from the 13th century. The bell tower was constructed in 1491 and the facade was completed in 1624 in a mix of Gothic and Renaissance architecture.

It is situated at the Place de l‘Abbe Basset, the name of a former vicar of the church.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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