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Imagine History in Paris when visiting some of
its famous sites
- The
Place de la Concorde, where King Louis XVI was beheaded
in 1793 ; the exact place is near the big lamp-post representing
the city of Strasbourg, facing the Hotel de Crillon ;
- Other places associated with
the memory of various revolutionary events in Paris include the
Mur des Fédérés, in the Père
Lachaise Cemetery (where thousands of insurgents were shot in
1871), the Boulevard Saint Michel in the Latin Quarter
(imagine it with tens of barricades in 1968), etc ; you may also
notice thousands of little marble slabs on the wall with a name
on them and a date in the third week of 1944 : they refer to
the upheaval of Paris before its liberation by the Allied Armies
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- When you visit the delightful
garden of Palais Royal imagine it in the XVIIIth century,
with " jet-set " gamblers and prostitutes and, later
on, Revolutionary orators such as Camille Desmoulins who started
the Revolution there ;
- On August 24, 1944, between
the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Prefecture de Police
(the building facing it), two German armoured tanks were ready
to fire at the insurgents in the Prefecture when they were destroyed
by young resistants hidden behind the big statue of Charlemagne
nearby ;
- There are also may historical
American landmarks in Paris : read about some of them.
- More to come (for more information
: read Thirza Valois's
books or travel
in France)
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| USEFUL
TIPS.....Understanding the French Revolution, with three
remarkable movies : "La Révolution Française"
(Part 1 : "Les Années Lumières", Part
2 : "Les Années Terribles"), directed by Alexandre
Mnouchkine, sponsored by the French Government as an educational
film for the Bicentenial, very spectacular, accurate and definitely
fascinating ; and also "Ridicule", a brilliant picture
of life of the dying world at the court of Louis XVI.Click here for more films. |
Architectural Paris over
History
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Paris is not a dead museum
and over centuries, each period has contributed to the variety
of buildings. However, some areas have the flavour of a particular
time. For instance :
- IInd century : the Roman baths,
adjacent to the Cluny (XVth Century) museum, are quite impressive
; around it, visit an interesting "medieval garden".
- XIIth-XIIIth century : Medieval Paris,
with Notre-Dame, the Sainte Chapelle, etc...
- XVIth century : visit the Marais
and all its mansions
(Carnavalet, the historical museum of Paris, for example, but
the whole area has tens of them)
- XVIIth century : Place des Vosges
is a remarkable example of urban harmony and many monuments in
Paris illustrate this period (the Invalides etc)
- XVIIIth century : Parc Monceau
and the buildings around it, including the wonderfully furnished
Musée Nissim de Camondo
- XIXth century is the Golden
Age of embellishment of the city ; the illustrious prefect Haussmann created
the large avenues, the style of buildings (light brown-yellow
stone and slate roofs) leaving room for major monuments such
as the (old) Opera House and large parks (Bois de Boulogne, Bois
de Vincennes and, less known, the Parc des Buttes Chaumont) and
of course the Eiffel Tower
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- 1900s : in addition to the Grand
Palais, the Galeries Lafayette and the Metro
entrances, do not miss
Art-Nouveau buildings such as 29 Avenue Rapp
- 1930s : the Trocadero palace
(facing the Eiffel Tower), the (former) Museum of Colonies (Porte
Dorée) now Museum of Immigration
- 1960s : everything from ugly
(Front de Seine) to barely acceptable (La
Défense)
- 1970s : under Mitterrand's presidency,
several " Grands Projets ", ranging from interesting (la
Grande Arche de la Défense) to abominable (the new Opera
house in Bastille) or ridiculous (the Bibliothèque Nationale)
- 2000s : the future of Paris
will probably be in the East or North-East :
around the Bassin de la Villette and the Parc de Bercy
- 2020s : later towards Aubervilliers
and the Canal de l'Ourcq? Boulogne-Billancourt on the island
where the Renault plant was ? You'll have to come back !
Getting mixed up ? Read about
French kings
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of contents
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Paris
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Harriet Welty
Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French.
Order her books :
- "French Toast, An American in Paris Celebrates
The Maddening Mysteries of the French",
St.Martin's Press, New York, 1999
- "French Fried, The Culinary Capers of An American
in Paris", St.Martin's Press,
New York, 2001
More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming
events, testimonials, etc..)
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