THE ARTERY THAT WAS JUST DESCRIBED LEADS TO A NETWORK AROUND THREE VOIDS TO ASSEMBLE TROOPS, HORSES AND CANNONS
(AMONG THE FIRST TRANSFORMATIONS, IN 1852-1853)
They are place Saint-Michel and the voids in front of Notre-Dame et City Hall:
Adapted from a Google map
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On arriving at the river, soldiers crossed a new bridge to arrive on the left bank by hugely enlarged Saint-Michel:
"N:" originally pont [bridge] Napoleon III; after the Emperor's downfall, pont National
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| "Walls of Medieval Paris Discovered during Demolitions for Place Saint-Michel, engraving 1860 / zoom |
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| Photo from the web, no photographer named |
There they might take either the prolonged artery toward the working-class south, or widened streets toward the parvis of Notre-Dame Cathedral:
Boulevard Saint-Michel
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View from a tower of Notre-Dame
At the end of the parvis they could take an enlarged street and a reinforced bridge to another greatly enlarged space, the esplanade in front of City Hall:
"Taking City Hall" (cut) by Amédée Bourgeois, 1831 / zoom
Model at the Musée Carnavalet
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It became the heart of a second network, at the center of the right bank:
- To the left is the relatively straight trade route that had been enlarged for tournaments and was the route that Louis XIV had taken for his cortège made building an artery toward the working-class east unnecessary:
The trade route (rue Saint-Antoine), wide and straight enough for marching troops.
- To the right, as at Notre-Dame, an insignificant street lies alongside the expanse.
- It leads to another wide, straight street (avenue Victoria) from which the army could reach Châtelet, the center of the right bank, five minutes away:
Behind City Hall were the Lobau barracks. More later.
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Of course such changes allowed
infinitely more fluid circulation and let in light and air.
But the three huge voids, two of which are dead ends,
have no tie with those objectives.
They were for assembling soldiers, horses and cannons.
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