5.7.3. THE CENTER'S GIANT VOIDS

THE ARTERY IS PART OF A NETWORK THAT LINKS THREE VOIDS, LARGE ENOUGH TO RALLY TROOPS, HORSES AND CANNONS 

(AMONG THE FIRST TRANSFORMATIONS, IN 1852-1853)

Those huge spaces of central Paris are place Saint-Michel and the esplanades of Notre-Dame Cathedral and City Hall:

Adapted from a Google map

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The artery crosses the river by a new bridge to the left bank, where soldiers can assemble at hugely enlarged place Saint-Michel:

Web photo, photographer unknown

            Walls of Medieval Paris Discovered during Demolitions for Place Saint-Michel, engraving 1860 / zoom

     "N:" pont [bridge] Napoleon III; after his downfall, pont National

There the army could stay to confront residents of the turbulent Latin Quarter, take the prolonged artery toward the equally tumultuous working-class south or march along another widened street to the parvis of Notre-Dame Cathedral:

  

Boulevard Saint-Michel toward the south

                                          View from a tower of Notre-Dame  

At Notre-Dame they could take yet another enlarged street and a reinforced bridge to the third greatly enlarged space, the esplanade of City Hall:

  Taking City Hall (cropped) by Amédée Bourgeois, 1831 / zoom

 

The bridge before and after transformation

Model at the musée Carnavalet

Drawing based on archival records / zoom

The space in front of City Hall in 1830 and 1855 

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That void was part of another network, built to march troops through the right bank: 

Adapted from an AI map

The trade route (rue Saint-Antoine) that Louis XIV took for his cortège had been widened in the 16th century for tournaments. 

To the right of that esplanade is an insignificant street for ordinary traffic, as at Notre-Dame. It leads to another wide, straight street (avenue Victoria) from which the army could reach the center of the right bank, Châtelet, five minutes away:

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Behind that junction were the Lobau barracks. More later.

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Such changes allowed more fluid circulation and let in light and air. But the three huge voids, two of which are dead ends, had no tie with those objectives. They were built for assembling soldiers, horses and cannons. 

The same is true for

the three giant spaces to the east:

More later.

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Next,

5.7.4. 

The Emperor's fountain crushes Socialism