III.3. HAVE THE KINGS BECOME SUBVERSIVE?

3.3. Have the kings become subversive?

THE CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES, APOGEE OF THE GRAND AXIS, 

COULD PROPEL A SUBLIME MODERNITY  

But globalized commerce has taken over "the world's most beautiful avenue"and changed its message:

     Automobile centenary / Claude Abron

In brief

• The Champs-Élysées, challenged majesty

• A new society creeps in

• Goddesses loom over the city

• Kings and globalization

*     *     *

Next,

The Champs-Élysées, challenged majesty

THE CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES, CHALLENGED MAJESTY

THE "GREAT WHEEL OF PARIS," NOW DEFUNCT, HERALDED 

A GENERAL EVOLUTION

Installed at place de la Concorde from the 1980's to 2018

in itself it was spectacular...

...but the booths at its foot blocked Louis XIV's groundbreaking perspective...

...while the theme song on its web site was so triumphantly insignificant — "les CHAMPS!!! Élysées" — that it insulted the Avenue's grandeur. 

# # #

In 2014 the City refused to renew the lease. A bland composition 

replaced the pop tune. 

Joyful music from the Sun King's court

would have emphasized the avenue's grandeur.

Instead the authorities allowed the insipid.

Were those changes a compromise,

refusing the small stalls

but not confronting the multinationals

whose wares dominate the avenue now?   

*     *     *

Next,

A new society creeps in

A NEW SOCIETY CREEPS IN

MIXING CULTURE WITH COMMERCE WOULD HAVE SEEMED VULGAR A GENERATION AGO. BUT NOW... 

As seen, brands take over Palais-Royal, the medieval rampart under the Louvre vanishes under an installation that leads to a McDonald's, a tablet to rent replaces Marie-Antoinette's cell, chain stores or shops without personality replace businesses that had a soul, as here and here and a brand takes over Napoleon's tomb:

Claude Abron

In museums and monuments, merch can be impossible to avoid... 

• A barrier at the Conciergerie forces visitors to pass the boutique when they leave:

 

• At the Opéra, visitors must pass through three levels of shops before reaching the exit:

• At the Louvre, to view Raft and Liberty one must first pass this room...

 

...while another boutique covers the wall of the exit to the wing: 

PHOTO

 # # #

Triviality, consumerism and erasing the past —  is there a connection ?

*     *     * 

 

Next

Goddesses loom over the city 

GODDESSES LOOK DOWN OVER THE TOWN

COINCIDING WITH THOSE CHANGES, GIANT ADS LOOM 

(FIRST REMARKED IN 2011)

Richard Nahem

The City must recognize

 that many people dislike these ads,

since those on famous monuments 

announce that they help finance renovations.

They do not say what percentage

 of renting the walls goes for that purpose.

*     *     * 

Next, Kings and globalization

KINGS AND GLOBALIZATION

THE CRACKS AROUND THIS PAINTING WERE FINALLY REPAIRED... 

(IN 2023)

Louis XIII bows before a crucifix, church of Saint-Paul Saint-Louis, 4th

But though people stop there to meditate or light candles, I have never seen anyone contemplate the giant painting of homage to the king, in a church built to honor monarchy.

That past has been forgotten.

# # #

Compare that work with images like this one: The gorgeous, colossal, invincible queen does not say what she is selling, still less why it should be bought...

Ad on the summit of the Hôtel Lutétia, 6th

She looms over the public like Big Brother, in hommage not to a product but to a brand, whose purchase is an order.

To fall for such bait a public must be submissive, credulous and have no conflicting frame of reference: The monarchs' majesty

stands in the way of such annihilation.

As well, they have left a legacy 

of artistic and architectural grandeur

that makes consumption-ism insignificant.

One does not reject it — one ignores it.

Pamela Spurdon

Louis XIV in the courtyard of the Louvre

The kings re-enter history when we notice
 the majesty they transmit.

End of Part III.

*      *      * 

The other great reason for Paris's beauty,
the fear that insurrections inspired,
is as suppressed as are the kings.

Part IV addresses that gap.

 IV.
The city of revolt and massacre