ALSO CREATED TO ASSEMBLE TROOPS THEY FOLLOW THE ROYAL MODEL
And they are public spaces toward which straight streets converge, their architecture is homogenous architecture and at their center is a power symbol like that of the equestrian king.
Drone shot / zoom
Place des Vosges
They are places de la Bastille, de la République and de la Nation: For how they line up, please click:
*There are no such spaces in the prosperous west. In the north, the steep, distant Montmartre hill prevented such change, with dramatic consequences.
- Place de la Bastille, which existed already.
The space was made by tearing down the hated prison, immediately after its capture in 1789. The July Column at its center was built by Louis-Philippe (in 1836) to commemorate the 1830 Revolution, that is, his regime, and beyond that, the establishment of a fully capitalist France.
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- Place de la République, which also existed, was greatly enlarged.
At its center was a fountain surrounded by lions, a symbolism suitable to the Second Empire. When in 1879 elections ensconced the Third Republic the fountain was moved to the 12th district, and the giant statue, Hommage à la République, replaced it in 1883.
Turgot plan, 1739 / zoom
Early site
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A gigantic statue celebrates the explicitly conservative republic. |
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- Place de la Nation, far to the east, is a place marked by several aspects of Paris's story:
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It became a gate in the new wall for tax collection on goods entering the city. The original statues on the columns symbolized Justice and Prosperity. The straight street in the background is a symbol of royalty.
April 15, 1792, The First Celebration of Liberty when the Forty Soldiers are Torn Away from the Galleys at Brest / zoom
It was the site of the Revolution's first celebration, to mark freeing soldiers sent to the galleys for contesting nobles holding back their pay (in spring 1791). The fête signaled growing egalitarianism.
Exécution des martyrs de Compiègne sur la place du Trône renversé, 17 juillet 1794 ("Execution of the Martyrs of Compiègne at the place of the Overturned-Throne, July 17, 1794") / zoom (please scroll down) // Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Quidenham, Norfolk / zoom
The guillotine was moved there (in 1794). Among the victims were 16 Carmelites who were condemned as counter-revolutionaries and religious fanatics. They mounted the scaffold one by one, singing, the Abbess last, singing alone. They are the subject of an opera by Francis Poulenc and a movie with Jeanne Moreau (1957 and 1960) .
They were beatified in 2024.
Louis-Philippe (1830-1848) tried to reinforce monarchy by replacing the columns' statues with those of the most famous medieval kings (Philippe le Bel et Louis IX/Saint Louis). It did not work: Overthrown, he is the last king of France.
Visit place de la Nation for its outdoor market and for the royalist shrine and cemetery nearby, reserved to descendants of guillotined nobles.
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Besides following the royal model, these majestic places align along the venerable trade route — that is, along the monarchy's Grand Axis.
With an exception.
But first, a void and point of focus
whose obscurity shows
the extent of the insurrection's threat.
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