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Today little exists of the Filles du Calvaire’s original church. After becoming national
property in 1790, the building functioned in a variety of capacities, serving first as a stable and
later as a warehouse for the Odéon Theater and a kitchen for the Grand Chancellor. 59 In the
1840s plans were made to realign the rue de Vaugirard, forcing the demolition of Notre-Damedu-Calvaire,
which projected into the area proposed for the changes to the street. To preserve at
least a section of the church, the architect Henri de Gisors decided to rebuild the façade at a site
farther back on the property. The original three-story façade, preserved in a drawing by Nicolas-
Michel Troche following desecration suffered during the French Revolution, was articulated with
pilasters and included a large, centrally-placed arched window projecting into the gable. This
upper section was pierced with two oculi and topped with a sculpture of a pelican (fig. 72).
Gisors’s façade, today part of the residence of the president of the French Senate, features a bust
of Maria de’ Medici in an elaborately conceived pediment and apart from the pelican retains
little of the original design (fig. 73).
As with the church of the Minims and Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes, Maria de’ Medici
contributed to the ceremonial placing of the first stone of Notre-Dame-du-Calvaire. Placed on 6
April 1625 by Marie de Bragelongne, wife of Claude Bouthillier, secretary of state, the stone
included a silver medal with the following inscription: “To the glory of God and the Holy Virgin
his mother, Maria de’ Medici placed the first stone of this church and monastery so that as she
recognizes the Mother of the King of Kings as the conserver of the kingdom and of the royal
line, and as the model and example of her life and name, she can have her in heaven as the
mediator of her eternal soul, in the year of our redemption 1625.” 60
Although the queen had included inscriptions with the foundation stones of previous
churches, the text on this one went a step further by establishing a connection between the
earthly Maria and the heavenly Mary. By stating that the Virgin is the mother of the King of
Kings, Maria de’ Medici alluded to her status as the mother of the king of France, effectively
comparing her earthly role to the celestial one. The inscription then proceeded to affirm that not
only was the Virgin Mary the namesake and patron saint of Maria de’ Medici, but that the
mother of God would also mediate in heaven on the queen’s behalf.
The comparisons between the Virgin Mary and Maria de’ Medici did not stop with the
text. Indeed they continued with the visual signs explicitly connecting the church to the queen.
Among the most prominent of these was the monogram of Maria de’ Medici used on the façade
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