August 28, 2007

Place Saint Georges


The area of Paris where we have already visited the Museum of the Romantics, Square d’Orléans and the Gustave Moreau Museum is for some reason called Nouvelle Athène (New Athens). There are several more places to visit and I have not finished; it is in easy walking distance from where I live. As usual I present some Paris Google illustrations to make it possible for you to find your way to these places, if you have not already visited them. (Batignolles is the area where I live.)

Today I will show you Place Saint Georges. It’s a nice place created in the beginning of the 19th century. In the middle you have a statue of a painter called Gavarni. He should be surrounded by water, but there are some works ongoing. Originally this was a fountain allowing horses to get some refreshment.

Gavarni was known for painting courtesans and the most striking building on the place, which I have illustrated a bit more in detail (top picture and second slide below), was actually built for a courtesan. She obviously was successful, as she rather soon moved to something even more fashionable on the Champs Elysées, became marchioness... Today the building seems to be basically occupied by very expensive offices (and there is space to let).

The other building, today with some green public space behind, was destroyed during one of the French revolutions in 1871 (Paris Commune), but immediately rebuilt. It was previously occupied by Adolphe Thiers, who actually was elected President of the Republic the same year as his house was torn down. Today it's a library depending on the "Institute" (The French Academy).
You can find the original photos on my other blog - "Peter - photos".

(I have still network problems, but I was lucky for a moment and managed to make this post.)

15 comments:

Neva said...

I really need to take a lesson or two from you not only on your pictures but on how to label maps and other pictures...very nice.

Olivier said...

tu veux rivaliser avec le michelin ;o) superbe toutes ces informations, photos et presentations. Bravo, et content de voir que tes problemes informatiques sont finis

lyliane six said...

Superbe hôtel particulier!
Je constate avec bonheur, que les artistes sculpteurs de ce temps là aimaient les femmes dans tous les termes du mot, c'est à dire avec des hanches et de la poitrine, comme les femmes de ce siècle,ce qui est pour moi le vrai canon de la beauté!

Peter said...

olivier:
Mes problèmes sont toujours là, mais je profite des moments ou ça marche. Michelin: Il me faudrait un budget pour visiter aussi les restaurants. Pour le moement je visite des lieux gratuits ou relativement peu payants (Musée G. Moreau, 5 €).

Anonymous said...

And what a post you did!
Why nowadays nobody has time to do buildings like these with their decorations.Those are so wonderful to see.thanks again!

hpy said...

En tout cas tu ne prends pas modèle sur le Bibendum pour ta taille.

SusuPetal said...

Such beautiful houses and your posts are just complete pearls with the photos and the texts.

Ash said...

Such ornate detail on the first shot. Love it!

abcd said...

I like the 'museum of the romantics'. I must visit it when I visit Paris.
The picture was very well captured.

Thanks for sharing.

Shionge said...

Thank you Peter for yet another fantastic tour, tell me do you do some research prior to taking the shots? Beautiful & great effort my dear friend!

isa said...

Nouvelle Athène is an uncharted territory for me, so I truly enjoy this walk with you!

Am amazed at the great condition of the building statues - not an arm, leg or head is missing ;-)

Anonymous said...

Your network problems might well be blogger problems, Peter, as I have had plenty of those recently. It is fair now.

I like your post today and read it but have little understanding of the things I read. I guess I am ashamed of myself for not being more knowledgeable about your country and city.

Peter said...

Abraham:
Unfortunately, it's not only blogger problems; it's a more general network problem. The provider has admitted that there is a problem and they will have it solved "soon". In the meantime, I have been disconnected far more than 50% of the time today and it mostly disconnects, when you have just finished a message and want so send it...

Peter said...

Shionge:
Yes, I have to. I have lived some 33 years in Paris, but it's only since a couple of months, after retiring, that I really have the time to learn somthing about the city.

Peter said...

neva:
You are welcome here! Seriously, this is very simply by copying pictures to PowerPoint, adding some text or whatever, and then again register as a picture. The bad thing is that the photos get small and cannot be enlargened.