PLACE DES VOSGES, A SYMBOL OF MONARCHY
All important Parisian "places"* copy or adapt its design, as do certain provincial towns and foreign capitals.
* "Places" are urban spaces that express political power. The usual term, "squares," erases that French specificity. As it cannot be translated these pages use the French with italics or quotation marks or or in a later section say "void."
Place Royale in 1709, no more information / zoom
First called place Royale,* it is so amiably grandiose that the New York Times chose it to announce the European Union's reopening after the covid lockdowns.
*It became "place des Vosges" in honor of the first region to send taxes to the Revolutionary government (in 1791).
* *
Until then open spaces (markets, cemeteries, the space in front of City Hall) had appeared spontaneously. This was the first to be deliberately created.
(Begun in 1605, inaugurated in 1612)
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Paris in 1530 / zoom |
It was built on empty land at the city's edge, including that of a demolished palace (Henri II's had died there and his widow tore it down, in 1559).
Its design symbolizes empowered monarchy:
- It is a public space toward which streets converge because the king is at the center of all.
- Those streets are straight: the king guarantees stability and order.
Cette photo et la suivante, Carolyn Ristau
Originally "rue Royale," now rue de Birague
Henri IV above the entry (added at the Restoration)
- A symbol of power dominates the center: until the Revolution, it was an equestrian statue of the reigning king. But there is none here.
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The Carrousel at Place Royale in 1612 by Matthäus Merian / zoom |
Inauguration
The next pages show the statue that finally did come and what happened to it and to those of the four royal places that followed.
Then I'll suggest a reason
why this model
was empty for decades (until 1643).
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