Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs stands at 254 Rue Saint-Martin in Paris's 3rd arrondissement. Benedictine monks of the Priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs built the first chapel at the end of the eleventh century. The west front, lower bell tower and first seven nave bays were built in the Flamboyant Gothic style from 1420 to 1480, and Renaissance additions followed from 1576 to 1586 and 1613 to 1615.
The interior is described as a forest of one hundred columns, with 33 chapels. Jacques Sarazin designed the 1629 retable, which displays two paintings by Simon Vouet. The main organ is a seventeenth-century instrument rebuilt in 1777 by François-Henri Clicquot, and Louis Braille served as organist from 1834 to 1839.
The church closed during the French Revolution and reopened in 1802. It is tied to the Emmanuel Community and is an active parish church.
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