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# In the Marais, inside the church of Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux, vintage clothes are sold at weekends
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-mare-vnutri-tserkvi-notr-dam-de-blan-manto-po-vykhodnym-torguiut-vintazhnoi-odezhdoi/
- Published: 2026-05-24T09:48:25.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:26:02.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Faith, Observations, Society, Paris

In the Marais, inside the church of Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux, vintage clothes are sold at weekends. There are usually plenty of tourists here, eager to capture a thoroughly Parisian combination: Baroque-Classicist architecture and fashionable dress.

This is a working church, which shares its premises with a second-hand market, the proceeds going towards the upkeep of the building.

Flea markets in churches exist all over Europe, in Amsterdam and in London alike. I will not even mention the raves, swimming pools and garages within church walls. But what, exactly, is the main problem with a sacred space becoming a backdrop against which people photograph racks of old Sonia Rykiel jackets at 180 euros apiece, in front of frescoes with biblical subjects?

Yes, a church is not merely its walls, but a consecrated space where holy sacraments are celebrated and sacred objects are kept. And yes, canonical tradition expressly forbids using a consecrated place for purposes alien to its function without the bishop's permission. Concerts of sacred music, lectures, exhibitions of religious art and charitable events receive approval in most dioceses. And yes, Pope Francis said that empty churches are worse than working ones, encouraging communal use of places of worship.

Pope Francis holds that view. The evangelists, meanwhile, as we remember, describe the scene of the traders being driven out of the temple.

But that is not all. In essence, hucksters and other tourist tinsel in churches lead, through sheer habit, to the desacralisation of consecrated spaces. The sacred becomes commonplace when on Sundays a church service is held in a certain place, and on Saturdays people rummage through mountains of fashionable dresses there, trying on T-shirts with funny prints, a coffee in one hand and a phone in the other.

I will never believe that the reason for such a symbiosis lies solely in the need to scrape together at least some funds for the running of the church. Behind all this stands a large campaign for the de-Christianisation of Europe. In this instance, by erasing the distinction between a church and any other building.

I am aware that in France there is a public association that tries to resist uses of churches “incompatible” with their spiritual purpose, but, as we see, not quite successfully. One can only hope that the Christian Church will overcome this appalling crisis, and that people will return to church premises now let out as marketplaces, for prayer, for meeting their brethren in faith and for turning to a thousand years of Christian history.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_20620@24-05-2026_12-48-25.jpg)