Paris Apartments

Nicolas Flamel Alchimist

Nicolas Flamel was the most famous and most popular of the benefactors of the Church of Saint Jacques la Boucherie (Tour St. Jacques between rue the Nicolas-Flamel, and the Theatre de la ville, Pont au Change). He was born at Pontoise in 1340.

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The Writer-juror

It was epitaphier, calligrapher, illuminator, painter, draftsman, bookseller: A master writer is able to write very carefully, draw many different scripts (Gothic letter, civility letter, letter in Flemish, etc.) He works with the justice. He is secretary of the royal household or a Parliament of which he writes the important messages for transmission across the kingdom. He teaches writing and is responsible for the education of children. He is a certified public accountant since the clarity of accounts presentation is essential. This is a public writer who wrote the documents of people and of course, an artist.

The Alchemist

In his house, which had a sign writer, he received affluent students to give them lessons in writing. He sold the manuscripts they were copying in two shops stuck to the side of the church. He became very rich and people thought that it was because of its power to transform base metals into gold.

The organizer of welfare

I must say he made the best use of his fortune with his wife Pernelle. By building a house that still exists rue de Montmorency, the "Grand Pignon" number 51, for housing the poor. One of the arcades of the cemetery of the Innocents, is by him. He subsidized 14 hospitals. He assured rebuild three chapels and a pension to 7 churches.

The Philosopher's Stone

This stone may be his epitaph, which he carved himself, whose meaning is clear, however: I came from the earth and I return there, I give you my soul, Jesus, you who forgive others. It was engraved on a slab sealed in a pillar of Saint Jacques de la Boucherie, it disappeared during the Revolution. This is an antique merchant that found it at a greengrocer who used it to chop the spinach. It is now at the Musee de Cluny.

His house

It was destroyed in 1852. The will of Nicolas Flamel is in the National Archives and considered like a sacred relic for those who think he had found the secret of the Philosopher's Stone. They even ransacked his house to find solutions and texts. It was searched, probed, dug. The best way to see this house now desappeared, is to take the subway line No. 1. Each time you go underground from Châtelet Station to Hôtel de Ville (city hall), you cross the cellar! Make a Wish!