Originally, there was the church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, built during the reign of Clovis and where the king himself, his wife Clotilde and Saint Genevieve were buried. In the Middle Ages, it became the important royal abbey of the same name.During the 13th century, the abbey church that served the local residents became insufficient, and a second building was erected under the patronage of Saint Stephen, the first of the martyrs. The latter was itself rebuilt between 1492 and 1626, in the troubled context of the Wars of Religion. The current Saint-Étienne church was attached to the Sainte-Geneviève abbey church.n 1744, Louis XV decided to replace the abbey church, which was in poor condition, with a grandiose building that, after many historical twists and turns, became the current Pantheon. The abbey church itself was devastated during the Revolution and the relics of Saint Genevieve were burned. The abbey buildings were transformed into the Henri-IV high school and the abbey church was demolished in 1804 to make way for Rue Clovis; only the bell tower remains, included within the high school grounds.