THE CHURCH BUILT TO ASSERT POWER
AFTER THE FLEEING RULING CLASS RETURNED
CONTRASTS WITH THAT BUILT
WHEN INSURRECTIONS HAD ENDED
 |
| Zoom Planned in 1871 |
Planned in 1892
# # #
Granted, the most evident contrast
comes from the terrain,
rather than from social change :
The church does not loom over the city,
in fact is almost i m
 |
| Corner, rues de Tolbiac and Bobillot |
A rare spot to glimpse the church
- Sainte-Anne is next to a hill and the original plans show the church was meant to be on its summit (in the 1860's)
La Butte-aux-Cailles toward 1900, postcard / zoom |
- But the war with Prussia, then building the Sacré-Cœur put off the project, and later the expansion of quarries made building a heavy monument impossible
The quarries in 1908
- So the church is a the base of the hill, and one only gets glimpses of it
But the difference is deliberate:
The mood is gentle
• The main link with the Sacré-Cœur: Mary is much larger than in traditional churches. But her size is small compared with the immensity of Jesus there, and instead of overwhelming the spectator, she sinks into the background.
• Lighting is dim and the Sacré-Cœur's aggressive primary colors yield to quiet pastels
• Among the multitude of industries,
France's largest chocolat plant
 |
| Poster at the exhibit A rich industrial past, organized by the historical journal just mentioned |
Lombart chocolats at 75 avenue de Choisy, where "Chinatown" is now
- To attract children it pioneered pictures in advertising...
...and employed 800 workers who were learning to organize and strike
 |
| Chocolaterie Lombart -- women leave / collection-ifm.fr |
• The First International was founded in 1864 and the most active Commununards often belonged to it. Memories of their combat remained extremely powerful: My childhood was in the 13th district between the Ivry and porte d'Italie gates, behind the Panhard factory... that is to say where the Paris Commune was part of the myths, the legends and the reality of my earliest memory... the good one, that remains, it is said, when one has forgotten all the rest.
– Alphonse Boudard, preface to Eléments pour une histoire de la Commune in the 13th district by Gérard Comte
The message is not the message
"obey your employer in this world,
since all will be well in the next"
is a benign example of the tie
between repression and beauty.
And the beauty, of Saint-Anne's serenity
going beyond its social goal.
* * *
Next,
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