THE GODDESS'S DESCENDANTS

 

THE NEWLY RICH OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION COPY THE NOBLES' CODE

 

Politically and economically victorious but socially insecure, they model their culture on that of the prestigious vanquished: 

• Gravitas to monuments.

Zoom

Paris's place de la République, 1883

 New York Bay, Statue of Liberty web site

The Statue of Liberty, 1889

• Dignity and elegance to daily life.

At the "Alma Marceau" bus stop in the upscale 8th.

# # #

The many such figures add to the city's grace. Many adorn buildings in the former working-class neighborhoods, torn down after the insurrections of 1848...

 Zoom

 The insurrection of February 1848. That of June 1848 was much more terrifying.

Corner of rue Saint-Denis and rue de Turbigo, 2nd

Or burned down during La Commune.*

Law court burned / zoom   Photo nude on rebuilt edifice awaited

 Fires during the Commune, lithograph, 1871 / zoom

Tapestry manufactory and Communard headquarters of the radicalized 13th.

Across the street.

# # #

They help explain why

 the city's insurrectionary past 

is so hard to imagine.  

End of this section.

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Next section,

II.7.

When observation and the usual story clash:

What Opéra tours won't say