"...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 (slightly abbreviated, in French)
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The Empereur appoints Haussmann (upper part of a painting at the City Museum) |
The metamorphosis continues until at least 1925...
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Piercing the boulevard Haussmann in 1925 / zoom |
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The artery that cuts through the city lets troops rushed from the frontiers march without obstacles to the center, without the obstacle of tiny streets:
The Eastern Station. The Northern Station is a few steps away.
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| Adapted from a Google map |
Rue du Chat qui pêche, 5th (between Notre-Dame and Saint-Michel)
A rare small street that was not destroyed.
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Destruction covered the entire territory east of rue Saint-Denis, where the barricades of June had been:
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| Adapted from a document at the National Library / zoom |
Avoiding workers' presence in the center is the reason why Parisian railway stations are on the outskirts, in contrast to London and New York.*
*Except the Northern and Eastern stations, which predate the June insurrection, and the former Gare d'Orsay, built in 1898 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 harmony due to demolishing and rebuilding in a homogeneous style...
The Etienne Marcel crossroad
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1 Boulevard Poissonnière, 9th, Internet, photographer not named |
Those are streets
where barricades had stood.
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