Had the modern improvers of the church only pulled this down they might have been forgiven, but they did not rest until they had appointed an architect named Bacarit to "purify" the church of its "_barbarie Gothique_." Unfortunately for the reputation of the academicians of 1745, the project submitted to, and approved by them, appears to us, so far as it was carried out, to be a decided _barbarie Classique_; and even in the beginning of this century, when the Empire had introduced a sort of _pseudo_-Classic style, and made it fashionable, people of taste were no less severe upon the re-dressing of the old pillars and capitals in Greek garments: "Nearer to my residence, and of a kindred style of architecture, is the Church of S. Germain Auxerrois. The west front is yet sound and good. Nothing particular strikes you on the entrance, but there are some interesting specimens of rich old stained glass in the windows of the transept. The choir is completely and cruelly modernised. In the side chapels are apparently several good modern paintings; and over an altar of twisted columns, round which ivy leaves apparently composed of ivory are creeping, is a picture of three figures in the flames of purgatory. This side chapel is consecrated to the offering up of orisons 'for the souls in purgatory.' It is gloomy and repulsive. Death's heads and thigh bones are painted in white colours upon the stained wall; and in the midst of all these fearful devices I saw three young ladies intensely occupied in their devotions at the railing facing the altar."[82] The chapels of the _chevet_ have niches in the wall surmounted by round-headed arches, and containing statues. There are in all thirteen chapels, but four of them have been converted into a sacristy and the north door, the exterior of which is a good specimen of Renaissance work.