5.8.2. BEAUTY WHOSE BRUTAL ORIGIN HAS BEEN FORGOTTEN

THE FIRST WORKING-CLASS INSURRECTION, 1848; THE CITY'S TRANSFORMATION, MAINLY 1853-1870*

*It continues until 1926

Razing rebel neighborhoods brings the five-story buildings of luminous limestone with delicate balconies. The style gives much of the right bank its unity, and the oblique zinc roofs that bring light into the streets explain the name "City of Light."

 

 My Private Paris / zoom

The neo-Gothic churches meant to inculcate docility are neighborhood symbols and settings of daily life.

Notre-Dame de la Gare, built in the then miserable 13th district (in 1858).

Covering over the canal to let the army invade the east now brings two kilometers of gardens...

The statue that introduces the gardens masks the tragedies of many working-class grisettes, but is lovely in itself (more at the bottom of this page).

Preparing to bombard the Latin Quarter led to a left-bank panorama, and to beautifully rebuilding the hospital that was torn down to allow bombarding the Latin Quarter.

The fountain that celebrates Socialism's defeat hovers over festivity:

*      *

Without the revolts and repressions

that are now carefully erased,

Paris would look like any other city.

*     *     *

Next,

5.8.3. 

The left hijacks streets and spaces