The first parish church of St. Étienne (the area of the old Roman forum) arose in the 6th century out of the Abbey of Ste. Geneviève. It used the burial crypt of the structure for its worship space. Not until the 13th century was a separate church built, on the north side of the abbey on the crest of the hill overlooking the Seine. An ever-growing parish resulted in a new structure begun in the year before Columbus left for the New World (1491). Successive stages of construction help explain the mixture of architectural styles, making it one of the most uncommon eglise in 16th Century Paris. The vaults of the apse and the bell tower appeared in 1491, the chancel in 1537, the gallery in 1545; finally, the vaults of the nave and the transept were completed in 1580. The bell tower is raised in 1624 and the portal is built in 1610. After the Revolution the demolition of the Abbey church, in 1807, disturbs the balance of its façade.

This church contains Pascal’s tomb, who died while he was in the parish territory and Racine’s ashes -- transferred to this church from Port-Royal in 1711. Furthermore, it contains the shrine of St. Geneviève’s remains, the patron sainte of Paris. The reliquary contains only a few fingers, bones and ashes, because during the Revolution, the remains were burned.