The request of his compatriots was supported by the French consul in Moscow, Pierre Martin, but the resolution of this issue dragged on for several years.

After receiving the approval of Empress Catherine II and permission from the Moscow authorities, the plot between Malaya Lubyanka Street and Milyutinsky Lane was purchased from Mr. Protasyev, where a small wooden French church was built, the consecration of which, in the name of the French King Louis IX Saint, took place on March 30, 1791.

Thanks to contributions from parishioners and a loan of 50 thousand rubles in banknotes, issued by the Russian government on preferential terms, construction of a stone church began in 1827, designed by the architect Domenico Gilardi,[9] and completed in 1830.

[10] However, the consecration took place only on June 17, 1849, as is recalled by a marble plaque with an inscription in Latin in the altar part of the church.

A massive exodus of French people from Moscow began; in 1921, the rector of the church, Jean-Marie Vidal, was forced to leave the country.

Until 1926, the French parish was looked after by Pyotr Zelinsky, rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Milyutinsky Lane.

Soon the secret was revealed and attempts were made to expel Bishop Neveu, but he was left in the country after protests from the French embassy, but in 1936 he was not allowed into the USSR after a course of treatment in France.

On April 13, 1991, Pope John Paul II announced the creation of an Apostolic Administration for Latin Rite Catholics in European Russia.

The ceremonial installation of the apostolic administrator, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, took place in the Church of St. Louis on May 28 of the same year.

It was visited by General de Gaulle in 1944 and on 3 December 1964, and also by Konrad Adenauer, Lech Walesa and Jacques Chirac, and other political and religious figures.

The main facade is decorated with a six-column portico, topped with a triangular pediment, on both sides of which there are low bell towers.

Also, in the altar of the left nave, there are small statues of the patron saints of France: St. Joan of Arc and St. Therese of Lisieux.

However, the inscription in French above the statue reads: “Queen of the Holy Rosary, pray for us.” After the Soviet period, only one ancient stained glass window with the image of St. Joseph, located on the right side of the temple.