DETOUR: "LES BOULEVARDS," ONCE LUXURY'S PLANETARY HEART

THEY OCCUPIED THE VOID OF DEMOLISHED RAMPARTS, FACILITATING ACCESS TO VERSAILLES

Tearing down the city wall asserted continental hegemony, and  rooting out crime was part of moving court and government to Versailles.*

*Demolishing ramparts, 1672; building the boulevards, 1674; eliminating the Court of Miracles, 1676; arresting poisoners and sorcerers, 1678-1680; the move to Versailles, 1682; nuns establishing themselves in the convent below, 1683.

     The Saint-Denis Gate by Alexandre Pau de Saint-Martin, 1810-1830 / zoom

                                                  Adapted from a map of Paris toward 1530 / zoom

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Residents change

• Nobles had already settled in these outskirts, but the area became much more desirable with the transformation just mentioned. 

• For example, many women of the nobility retired at the end of their lives to a convent, to leave worldly life behind and think of their salvation. This was one of those convents, which was next to the Saint-Denis gate. They came immediately after the criminals had been suppressed and the court established at Versailles.* 

*Police actions, 1676 and 1680-1682; court lastingly in Versailles, 1682; convent, 1683.

For more on noble residents, please click.

 The convent of the Dames de Saint-Chaumont, built in 1735 / zoom

• The middle class that the Revolution made dominant brought famous restaurants and the first sidewalk cafés :

The Café Tortoni at the Boulevard des Italiens by Eugène von Guérard, 1856 / zoom

        

Only men are seated: Respectable women came accompanied by men, and rarely, for in this epicenter of prostitution restaurants' private salons had couches for after dinner.  

• As the terrain of fashionable young men...

...the Boulevards are a setting of famous novels:

       Adaptation of Balzac's Lost Illusions by Xavier Giannoli with Benjamin Voisin and Cécile de France, 2021 / zoom

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Luxury establishments grew up nearby: I used to take visitors to the last workshop to produce flowers and plumes by hand...

Bruno Légeron inherited it from his great-great grandfather, who bought it 1888.

• It was founded in 1727 and a client was the royal court. Monsieur Légeron, above, made all the plumes and flowers for the film Marie-Antoinette by Sophia Coppola (in 2006).

Zoom

• Haute couture orders led to extras, which you could buy at reasonable prices after rummaging through the drawers: 

• A multinational acquired it in 2020. Visits are over. 

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The Boulevards were often painted...

Boulevard des Capucines by Jean Beraud, toward 1900 / zoom

      The Boulevard de Montmartre by Camille Pissaro, 1897 / zoom

     View of the Grands Boulevards of Paris by Fausto Guido, toward 1900  / zoom

Now Las Vegas evokes them:

     TripAdviser / zoom

But low-level brands and fast foods align there now.

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For the Boulevards' tie to Palais-Royal please click here,

for more on the nobles here 

and for the garment center, here.

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