AN ARTERY THAT CUTS THROUGH TOWN LETS TROOPS MARCH THROUGH TOWN, WITHOUT THE MAZE OF SMALL STREETS STOPPING THEM
As well: "These grand strategic arteries will push back the workers [...] and also help contain them."
-- The Baron Haussmann,
cited in The Atlas of Haussmannien Paris by Pierre Pinon, 2002, p. 93
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The artery that cuts through the city let troops rushed from the frontiers march quickly to the center, without the obstacle of tiny streets:
The Eastern Station. The Northern Station is a few steps away.
Adapted from a Google aerial map
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La rue du Chat qui Pêche, 5th (between Notre-Dame and Saint-Michel) |
One of the medieval streets that survived
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Demolition covered the entire territory east of rue Saint-Denis, where the June barricades clustered:
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| Adapted from a document at the National Library / zoom |
Avoiding workers' presence explains why Parisian railway stations are on the outskirts, in contrast to London and New York.*
*Except the former Gare d'Orsay, built in 1898 across the river from the Louvre, when strikes had replaced revolts.
"In that way the workers were pushed back toward the outskirts; and as one easily understands, that change influenced in a positive way order and public safety."
-- Général Moltke visiting Paris, cited in Atlas du Paris haussmannien, p. 93
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Those demolitions explain the rarity of medieval remains, the dreariness of much of the center and the rebuilding of the former working-class quarters in the homogeneous style adapted to the new bourgeoisie.
The Etienne Marcel crossroad
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1 Boulevard Poissonnière, 9th, Internet, photographer not named |
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The metamorphosis continues until at least 1925...
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Piercing the boulevard Haussmann in 1925 / zoom |
But most is done in the 15 years
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