IV.3. A DESIGN IMPOSSIBLE ELSEWHERE

 

MENU: 4.3. DESIGN IMPOSSIBLE ELSEWHRE

BY LINKING THE LOUVRE PALACE WITH THE HORIZON THE "GRAND AXIS" PROCLAIMS INFINITE ROYAL POWER

It coincides with the east-west trade route and demolishing the rampart permits it.

The Grand Axis seen from the Tuileries gardens / zoom

   Lithograph of 1855, cover, Les Belles Heures des Champs-Elysées, 1855, by Marc Gaillard (Martelle Editions), n.d.

Accounts often ignore a design seen only from above. 

Claude Abron

To partially grasp its length, view the Louvre palace from the other side of the river. 

Origins

• The space that leads to the royal tombs. 

• The first straight street and first point of focus. 

• The innovations of Henri IV? (Please scroll down the page.)

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Tearing down the rampart is almost as important. It: 

• Facilitated the transfer to Versailles.

• Led to the "Grand Boulevards" and the garment center.

• Allowed the arcs at the Saint-Denis and Saint-Martin gates.

The arc at the Saint-Denis gare helps understand Europe's past.

And that future capitals should copy it

gives it planetary importance. 

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In brief 

• Louis XIV's victories lead to razing the rampart...

• The larger arc highlights kingship

• Effects on Paris of demolishing the ramparts: "Les Boulevards" and "Le Sentier"

• Effect on Europe: an announcement of French hegemony

• Porte Saint-Denis heralds three centuries of calamity

• Now the arcs hover like ghosts over the traffic

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Next,

4.3.1.

Louis XIV's victories lead to razing the rampart...