ALL IMPORTANT PLACES* FOLLOW THE MODEL OF PLACE DES VOSGES
* The main open spaces in French cities, which hark back to the kings
Only central symbols change with the times. They hark back to the royal statue on pont Neuf and symbolize the power of the State.
- The Arc de Triomphe, begun under Napoleon and inaugurated in 1836, exalts the victories of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic armies to unite the population around Louis-Philippe, a king who lacked legitimacy.
 |
Internet, no photographer named |
- At place Vendôme, the column built to honor Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz is a copy (Austerlitz, 1805; first column, 1807; column now, 1870's).
 |
| Internet, no photographer named |
- Its militarism...
Le Routard / zoom
Scenes of the battle compose its decor and it is supposed to have been made from cannon seized from the enemy, though Communards (please read on) find only a thin layer of bronze.
- ...led La Commune to tear it down (in 1871):
Preparation for démolition, last measures by Bruno Braquehais / zoom
Shattered statue of the emperor Napoleon by Bruno Braquehais / 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
- At place de l'Opéra the monument represents the regime and is itself the symbol (end of the 1860's):
Claude Abron
An enclosed public space, converging streets, homogeneous architecture
# # #
Although set between the river and a street the Grand Courtyard of the Louvre cannot draw converging routes...
- The space is public, the architecture homogeneous...
...and the Pyramid evokes the State:
 |
Monique Wells |
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 the equivalent of "Oui, Sire" (in 1984).
President Macron celebrated his electoral victory with the Pyramid in the background (in 2017):
The royal imprint,
a current event.
* * *
The violent imagery of victors on horseback
No comments:
Post a Comment