A listed historic monument, Saint-Germain de Charonne - with its impressive bell tower - is one of the only churches in Paris that still has an adjoining old cemetery. Overlooking the streets of Bagnolet and Saint-Blaise, it stands at the heart of what used to be the village of Charonne, incorporated into the city of Paris in 1860. According to legend, it occupies the site where the bishop Saint Germain met Saint Geneviève, (the patron saint of Paris), in 429. The building dates back to the 12th and 13th centuries but was rebuilt in the 15th century and again in the 18th century.
