Inside la Madeleine

I certainly wasn't the only tourist to enter the church of la Madeleine on that Sunday morning. I was surprised to find a service going on inside. I'm not Catholic, but it didn't seem like a mass to me. Just a priest (I assume) standing at a lectern off to the side of the main altar. And he was speaking in French, not Latin, with many references to Jesus, of course. The sound wasn't great and I didn't really focus on what he was saying. Maybe it was just a general, non-denominational service. Do they do that kind of thing?

You can see the priest under the angel statue on the right side of the altar.

I was also not the only tourist taking photos while the service was going on. I hope I was among the more discreet. The interior is vast, but the Madeleine is not a cathedral, nor is it a soaring gothic construction. It's just a church, but it's a big one. The building's neoclassical architecture is on full display inside, notably in the corinthian and ionic columns, the ornate entablatures, and the triangular pediments.

A woman lit a candle and, I assume, said a prayer. I imagine that's a statue of Mary, the church's namesake, in front of the purple screen.

I finished my snapshots quickly and went back outside. I decided to walk around the terraces of the church and see what the exterior looked like up close.