Cool Paris

In 1830 saintly Catherine Labouré was said to have been visited by the Virgin, who gave her a medal that performed miracles.

This kitch chapel – murals, mosaics, statues and the embalmed bodies of Catherine and her mother Superior – is one of France’s most visited sites, attracting two million pilgrims every year.

Reliefs in the courtyard tell the nun’s story – and slot machines sell medals.

Couvent des Soeurs de St-Vincent-de-Paul, 140, rue du Bac, 75007 Paris, M° Sèvres-Babylone.