II.1.6. DETOUR: WILLFULLY DELETING THE PAST

 

TRANSFORMATION AT THE LOUVRE, THE CONCIERGERIE AND THE OPÉRA 

An evolution that began in 2017 shows the depth of change.

                                                                          Adapted from a Google map

In brief

• Marie-Antoinette's cell replaced by a tablet

• Camouflage at the Louvre

• The Opéra: Renovation hides the original goal

*    *    *

Next,

Marie-Antoinette's cell replaced by a tablet

MARIE-ANTOINETTE'S CELL REPLACED BY A TABLET

HER LAST DWELLING WAS A CELL IN THE MEDIEVAL PALACE

TURNED PRISON 

(THE "CONCIERGERIE")

The portal where carts waited for the condemned.

"The Conciergerie was the prison reserved to the most dangerous political criminals; inscribing a name on the list of entries was a death certificate. One could leave Saint-Lazare, the Carmes, the Abbaye, all the other prisons alive, never the Conciergerie [...]. Marie-Antoinette and the world necessarily knew (and it was wanted that they know) that transfer to the house of the dead was the first measure of the danse macabre that would come next." 

-- The Conciergerie, "Marie-Antoinette" by Stefan Zweig, 1938 (my translation)

• If you read French, you may find this imagined account of the queen's stay and a real attempt to have her escape hard to put down. 

Most of the personages are existed, and the royalist writer vividly evokes the stench, cold, noise, intrigues and corruption.

-- The Seventy-Six days of Marie-Antoinette at the Conciergerie 

by Paul Belaiche-Daninos, 2006 / zoom

As well, Stefan's study cited above:

Marie-Antoinette at the Temple, J-L Prieur, 1793 / zoom

"...one recognizes with difficulty the queen of pastoral plays, the goddess of rococo, the proud and vigorous fighter she had still been at the Tuileries. On this painting of harsh outlines, Marie-Antoinette with her widow's veil and hair turned white from suffering, is already an old woman, though she was only thirty-eight. The spark of life is gone from the eyes that had been so mischievous, she is there, defeated [...], ready to answer any call, whether it be the last one." 

-- The Last Solitude in Stefan Zweig's study mention above

The queen's tragedy is the main reason for visiting, as this panel at the entry suggests:

It is a detail of the painting shown below, at the Musée Carnavalet.

Marie-Antoinette Leaving the Conciergerie on October 16, 1793 by George Cain, 1885 / zoom 

A reconstructed* cell poignantly evoked her fate...  

*The original was transformed during the Restauration.

The guard recalls the lack of privacy that made the three-month imprisonment worse. Sightseers would even bribe the director to have a look at the queen.

Internet photo, now vanished

Marie-Antoinette's letter to her sister-in-law, written a few hours before her execution.

Another vanished Internet photo

Letter to her children
"at 4 1/2 in the morning, my god! have pity on me! 

my eyes have no more tears to cry for you my poor children; adieu, adieu! MARIE ANTOINETTE"

 

I took my eight-year old granddaughter to see the cell after telling her the story. She rushed ahead to find it and came upon this:

Imagine our disappointment.

# # #
A tablet to rent replaces the cell, since 2017 I was told. "Live Marie-Antoinette's last hours for only five euros," an announcement says:

#  #  #

A positive sequel
The Conciergerie seen from the restaurant 

I skip restaurants in this extremely commercial neighborhood. But it was late, the night was cold, and I had not shopped. So I pushed open this door... 

Le Sarah Bernhardt2 place du Châtelet, 4th 

An hour later
"That was excellent. It tasted home-made." 
"It was. We limit our menu so that our chef can handle a half dozen classic dishes. All we buy is ice cream."
Prices are the same as those of the neighborhood, where many restaurants serve dishes that have been industrially produced.

When I walk down rue Saint-Denis I stop at its terrace, look at the Conciergerie, think of the queen and watch the crowd go by.    Next, Camouflage at the Louvre *     *    *

CAMOUFLAGE AT THE LOUVRE

THE PALACE BEGAN AS A FORTRESS BUILT INTO THE RAMPART, FORBIDDING INVADERS ACCESS TO THE RIVER

          The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry, October (upper level), 15th century / zoom

A magnificent trace of that wall remains, which until 2020 projectors highlighted:  

Then it became part of an installation...  

From which incomprehensible phrases spring out:

"Light brings us more deeply into auto-reflexion"

Since the majority of visitors are foreigners who don't read French, such obscurantism does not matter too much.

French people may stop, try to decipher the messages, lose interest and move on, or like these Girl Scouts pay no attention at all:

The exit leads from gloom to light,

 that is, to a McDonald's and a souvenir shop:

The rempart disappears.

# # #

For how 

 

*    *    *

Next,

Commerce is not the reason for such change. 

COMMERCE IS NOT THE REASON FOR SUCH CHANGE

THE CONCIERGERIE COULD RENT TABLETS WITHOUT ELIMINATING THE CELL.

THE PRETENTIOUS NEON PHRASES AT THE LOUVRE DO NOT BRING MONEY.

FOR CAMOUFLAGING THE GIANT SPACE AT THE SIDE OF THE OPÉRA, PLEASE CLICK.

Renovation in 2017 of the giant space where Opéra donors left their carriages while waiting for the end of performances' second act .

Culture isn't either. 

For how all elements of a society

combine to strengthen elites please click here,

and for an explanation of these erasures, 

here.

End of this section.

*     *     *

Next section,

Brands take over the historic center