IV.7. A MODERN ROYAL CITY

4.7. A MODERN ROYAL CITY

 PLACE DE LA DÉFENSE, HEIR OF THE ROYAL PLACES

Claude Abron

Streets converge. Skyscrapers bring homogeneous architecture. The equestrian statue of the king, symbol of monarchy...

Zoom

Yields to the Grand Arch, symbol of capitalism:

Claude Abron

As well...

• The Grand Axis as model

• Perspectives and points of focus, key to the city's grandeur

• "Places" stay royal

• The violent imagery of victors on horseback

• Detour: heroes on white horses  

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Next,
4.7.1. 

The Grand Axis as model

4.7.1. THE GRAND AXIS AS MODEL

LOUIS XIV CREATES THE STRAIGHT LINE THAT MERGES WITH THE HORIZON AS A SYMBOL OF ENDLESS MIGHT

 It harks back to the space that leads to the royal tombs:

Claude Abron

Photo taken from the top of the Grand Arch, far to the west

Foreign cities adopt the model later, but only in capitals, and only to underscore the State:

In Washington, the point of focus emphasizes State grandeur

In New York, Fifth Avenue has no point of focus.

New York's three points of focus  — the Flatiron building, the MetLife building and the Public Library seen from W. 42nd Street —  are built on a layout that is practical only. 

Paris's unique grandeur 

comes from the innumerable streets

that lead the eye to a target

and hark back to the kings.

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Next,
4.7.2. 

Perspectives and points of focus, 

keys to the city's grandeur

IV.5.2. PERSPECTIVES AND POINTS OF FOCUS

BASIC AT THE CITY'S GRANDEUR THEY ARE ANOTHER GIFT OF KINGS

The Opéra at the end of the Avenue de l'Opéra harks back to the palace of Versailles at the end of the Avenue de Paris. 

Carolyn Ristau

The design comes from...

• The space that leads to the monarchs' tombs.

• The straight streets that lead to symbols of monarchy.

• A probable plan for an urban complex, which culminates with a statue of a king. 

• The straight lines that converge toward the dome of the Invalides, which was meant to harbor the Sun King's tomb.

• The Grand Axis.

They...

• Amplify prestige:

Claude Abron

 Les Invalides

• Highlight power:

The Senate

• Link the secular and sacred:

The Chamber of Deputies seen from the church of the Madeleine

• Add clout:

    The Bank of France in the 2nd district

    A branch of the BNP bank in the 9th

The Chamber of Commerce

Notre-Dame de Lorette, 9th

Saint-Bernard, 18th

• Add drama:

Barbès

• Are used today

Eurodisney website

Eurodisney

# # #

Those perspectives were due to one man (the Baron Haussmann, active 1854-1869), to whom Emperor Napoleon III entrusted the city's transformation:

The Baron Haussmann in 1860 / zoom

He stood up to the ruler. When the latter remarked that in London streets served only for traffic, Haussmann answered,

"Sire, Parisians are not English. They need something more."  

 -- Memoirs

 "Something more" 
is the memory of monarchy.

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Next,
4.5.3.

"Places" stay royal

IV.7.3. "PLACES" STAY ROYAL

THE POWER SYMBOLS AT THE CENTER OF MAJOR PLACES

EVOLVE WITH CHANGING REGIMES

They all exalt the power of the regime. Their common origin: The equestrian statue of the king on pont Neuf bridge.

# # #

At place de l'Étoile, the Arc de Triomphe exalts the victories of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic armies. 

Internet, unknown photographer

Louis Philippe hoped that making the Invalides the Emperor's sepulchre and completing the Arc (both in 1836) would connect him with Napoleon and so unite the people around his illegitimate rule (please click scroll down).

At place de l'Opéra the monument itself is the symbol, for it represents the regime (the Second Empire in the 1860's).

        Claude Abron

An enclosed space, straight, converging streets and homogeneous architecture.

# # #

At place Vendôme, La Commune destroys the column built to honor Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz (battle 1805, original column 1807) for its militarism (on May 16, 1871)...

"A monument to barbarity, a symbol of brute force and false glory, the victors' permanent insult to the vanquished [...]. The Vendôme column will be demolished." 

 -- Decree of Destruction 

Zoom

"A monument to barbarity, a symbol of brute force and false glory, the victors' permanent insult to the vanquished [...]. The Vendôme column will be demolished." 

 -- Decree of Destruction  

Preparation de la démolition, dernières mesures by Bruno Braquehais / zoom 

     Souvenirs de la Commune: la colonne Vendôme démolie, anonymous, 1871 / zoom

             La Colonne Vendôme démolie by Bruno Braquehais /zoom

It was supposed to have been made from cannons seized from the enemy, but Communards found only a thin layer of bronze.

Internet, unknown photographer

We see a copy. 

# # #

Set between the river and rue de Rivoli the Grand Courtyard of the Louvre cannot draw converging streets but...

• The space is public, the architecture homogeneous...

Pinterest

• And the Pyramid evokes the State:

Entrée to Black Paris

Faced with an outcry against putting the contemporary work in the ancestral setting, the "Sun King of Socialism" — President Mitterand —  said, "I want it!" and the opposition answered "Oui, Sire" (in 1984).

President Macron celebrated his electoral victory with the Pyramid in the background (in 2017):

Image from widely-seen video 

The royal imprint,

a current event.

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Next,
4.7.4. 

Detour:

The violent imagery of victors on horseback