THE CHANGES EXPAND
THE ROYAL SETTING
Haussmann creates the long, straight, wide streets
for armies' march,
but he ends them with points of focus
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| Notre-Dame de la Gare on rue Jeanne-d'Arc, 13th |
The perspective makes an ordinary street dramatic.
Symbols of power
adapted from monarchy
give the east's grandiose places
their majesty
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| Zoom |
Place de la République, on the frontiers of the 3rd, 10th and 11th
The authority of equestrian royal statues
has been forgotten,
and Parisians agree with
their adaptations now
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| Zoom |
# # #
The emphatically secular French
ignore the 19th-century Catholicism's
but approve the neo-Gothic inspiration
of the churches of that time
A sculpture at Notre-Dame de la Gare (of 1858)
Homogenous architecture gives the city
a unity that is harmonious and elegant:
Few know that it comes from razing
rebel neighborhoods
Corner of rues Turbigo / Saint-Denis, 2nd
to let troops invade
the blue-collar east brought
an overpass that is now
two kilometers of gardens
(please click on)
The statue that introduces them
hides the tragedy of countless grisettes,
but in itself is delightful
Preparing to bombard the Latin Quarter
led to a left-bank panorama,
and to a hospital that was beautifully rebuilt
A monument that celebrates
at the heart of a network
meant for repression...
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| The fountain of place Saint-Michel |
...is often a site
for music and dance
Imagining the violent origin
of much of what makes Paris splendid
is almost impossible.
But without the revolts and repressions
that are now carefully erased,
it would look like any other city.
* * *
Next,
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