The predominant architectural style in Paris from the mid-17th century until the regime of Louis Philippe was neo-classicism, based on the model of Greco-Roman architecture; the most classical example was the new church of La Madeleine, whose construction began in 1764. It was so widely used that it invited criticism. Just before the Revolution, the journalist Louis-Sébastien Mercier commented as follows: "How monotonous is the genius of our architects!