The building of the Madeleine Church, named for Mary Magdalene, has had a turbulent history. Like so many other monuments in France the story of the Mary Madeleine Church is one of history, revolution, power, glory, sacrifice, and conflict. The church took about thirty-seven years to complete; work was started by Louis XV, paused for about a year during the revolution, and was completed by Napoleon. Napoleon finished the church to make a tribute to the magnificence of his armies. Since this was to be a temple of glory, its architects quite naturally modeled it after the Parthenon.

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The building itself is three hundred fifty-four feet long, one hundred forty-one feet wide, ninety-eight feet high, and has often been pointed out as an example of perfect proportions. A staircase consisting of twenty-eight steps takes up the entire front of the building. The central doors are of bronze, and in keeping with the size of the building, thirty-three feet high and fifteen feet wide. Around the exterior of the church are fifty-two huge, fluted Corinthian columns that are sixty-five feet high and six and one-half feet in diameter. The pediment across the front of the church shows the "Last judgment", with Mary Magdalene in the center.

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