The Church of St. Similien is an ancient church in Nantes. After the death of Bishop Similien in 310 AD, his successor, Eumilius, erected over his grave a votive chapel. One hundred years later, the bishop Leo, a Greek (444-458) built a real church to the site. In 848 AD, Nantes was vandalized during the Norman invasions. In 958 the restoration of the building began and was completed towards 1172 by the Duke Geoffroy II.
Following the siege of Nantes by Louis XI in 1487, Bishop Peter of Chaffault, repaired and enlarged the basilica Building it in the form of a Latin cross. The apse is Merovingian but the nave was extended towards the west, and flanked by two crosses.
During the French revolution, the church was closed to worship in 1793 and reopened after the Concordat of 1802. In 1824, the Millennium old building was destroyed and a church with three naves replaced it. The façade and portico were completed in 1835.
Fifteen years later, in 1850, the parish priest and the Church Council were considering the construction of a new church. In 1869, an architect, Eugene Boismen was appointed. The plans he offers were a Gothic building, inspired by those of the first half of the thirteenth century. The north-west facing building will include three naves, two ambulatory, bedside with a chapel which will be placed Our Lady of Mercy. The nave of five bays and end with a facade with two arrows. Permission to build the new church in 1872 is given. The Bishop Félix Fournier blessed the first stone of the new sanctuary on 5 October 1873. The work was completed in 1894 but as early as 1880, the vaults of the apse, the choir and transept were completed.
References:Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.