Grands Boulevards (2)

Let’s continue the walk along the Grands Boulevards, this time from Place de la République about half way to the end point, the Madeleine Church. We will follow the boulevards St. Martin, St. Denis, Bonne Nouvelle, Poissonière and Montmartre. (You can find maps on the previous posts.)

First I would like to show some normal street views, day and night. We are now approaching the part of the boulevards that still today offer some real nightlife with theatres, cinemas, restaurants…A few facades were there already when the boulevards were opened after 1670.There are a number of theatres along these boulevards, most of them from the 19th century. Sarah Bernhardt played and directed as well at Théatre de la Renaissance as at Théatre de la Porte Saint Martin (the middle top photo), where also Edmond Rostand presented the Cyrano de Bergerac. At the as a historic monument classified Théatre des Variétés (the photo to the right) a number of Offenbach’s comic operas were performed for the first time.I have already referred to the perhaps most famous Paris - and Europe’s biggest - cinema, Rex, inaugurated in 1932 as some kind of “Radio City Hall”. The main theatre can house some 2800 people and is not only used for films, but often for concerts.Along our walk we will also see two Arches of Triumph, Saint Martin and Saint Denis, both built under the reign and to the glory of Louis XIV. They were then on the border of Paris, on the way you then entered Paris from the north via rue Saint Denis (see post January 3) or rue Saint Martin. There are some nice and typical Paris streets to the right and to the left of the boulevards…… and you can also find some interesting pedestrian passageways:

Passage Prado, opened already in 1785, but covered only in 1925. Today it houses a number of Indian, Pakistani and Afro type of shops, hairdressing salons, a hotel… Passage Jouffroy, neighbour to our Mme Tussauds (Musée Grévin), created in 1847, with more fashionable shops, hotels…Passage des Panoramas, the most elegant of the three, in its present shape there since 1834 with some very old shops, restaurants…and neighbour to Théatre des Variétés, meaning that it was especially in fashion during the glorious Offenbach years (see above).Pissarro made a number of paintings from a hotel room at Boulevard Montmartre.

One small curiosity: When I looked closer on the photo of the street sign of Boulevard St. Martin, I noted a number of bullet impacts, obviously quite fresh, not yet rusty!

And tomorrow we make the last part of the Grands Boulevards.

Some of the above pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Place de la République

Before continuing on the boulevards, I propose a stop at Place de la République (for the plan of Paris, see preceding posts.).

This place was basically created during the second half of the 19th century. The present large buildings you can find on one side of the place replaced some theatres including the then famous “Diaporama”, where Daguerre – one of the photography inventors – presented his shows. One of the buildings was originally a big department store (Magasins Réunis) and is now occupied by a hotel and some shops. In the other large building you find the quarters of part of the Garde Républicaine (the French equivalent to the British Horse Guards).

On the opposite side of the place you can find a modest version of a pedestrian passageway, Passage Vendôme, one of many that were created around 1820-30, the forerunners to our present shopping centres.

The place is of course mostly known for the monument, “La République”, which was inaugurated - before it was quite ready - for the first official celebration of the 14th of July as a national holiday in 1880. A new inauguration took place when it was completed in 1883. It was created by two brothers Morice.

On the top, you have “Marianne”, one of the symbols of the Republic. Why Marianne? It seems to have been a popular name at the time of the Revolution among the working classes…. Why a woman? Because the Republic is feminine in French (La République) and women were perhaps also supposed to be less concerned about power and more about people’s well being…. Why the Phrygian bonnet? It was worn already by former slaves during the Roman Empire as a symbol for their citizenship….The monument is rich in decorations: You have also three sculptures representing “Liberté, égalite, fraternité”. Although “Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood (– or Death)” was an essential message already during the 1789 Revolution, it became an official motto only a few decades later. Once again these are feminine words in French and represented by women.
There is also a reference to the “Suffrage Universel”, the right for everybody to vote, established by France, as the first state in the world, in 1848. Of course, it was then limited to men only – French women had to wait until 1945!!











A last remarkable thing with the monument are 12 bronze reliefs around the base. They are made by A-J Dalou (who competed for the whole monument but instead made the monument for Place de la Nation). The reliefs tell the story of the establishment of the Republic (of course only the bright side of it). I thought that to show these reliefs in detail would be a good opportunity for me – and some of you – to memorize the major Revolutionary events. I made a separate post here below showing these reliefs with a few explaining words. I leave you the choice to look at this post as a supplement, if you have the courage.

Tomorrow we will continue with some more boulevards.

Some of the above pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Place de la République bis

Referring to the above post, here you can se the 12 reliefs by A-J Dalou, representing the major French Revolutionary events, which can be found on the base of the monument at Place de la République.

Grands Boulevards (1)

Before starting a walk along the boulevards, I would like to show you this additional map from 1725 on which I have indicated some then already existing sites as well as some later ones. Today we will just make it from Place de la Bastille to Place de la République. We start thus with Boulevard Beaumarchais, originally called St. Antoine, which later got the name from Beaumarchais - inventor, musician, spy, arms dealer, revolutionary - most known as the author of “The Barber of Seville” and “The Marriage of Figaro” (“Le Nozze di Figaro”), successful plays which served as base for the Rossini and Mozart operas. He had his residence (now destroyed) on the corner of Place de la Bastille.

A bit further up on the boulevard (no.23), you can see the entrance gate to a mansion house built by and for Jules Hardouin Mansart, chief arechitect of Louis XIV, who designed the largest part of Versailles and several other castles, churches (Invalides) and places (Place Vendôme). One of the most famous French courtesans, “Ninon” (de l’Enclos) held her salon here. In France her name goes for “wit and beauty”. She had some prominent lovers and collected a fortune, but she was also a friend of Molière and left part of her heritage to Voltaire’s parents for his education.

When proceeding towards La Place de la République, the boulevard changes name to “Bd des Filles du Calvaire” - named after a convent which since has disappeared - and to “Bd du Temple” - named after the “Temple”, a fortress which used to be situated close to here, especially well-known for having been a prison for the Royal family during the Revolution.

In the junction between these two boulevards you can find the “Cirque d’Hiver” (“The Winter Circus”) built in 1852, with J.I. Hittorff as architect. (He also, among many other things, designed the fountains on Place de la Concorde and the buildings around Place de l’Etoile.) The place is still in use for a lot of events, still basically circus, and can seat some 2000 people. Toulouse-Lautrec made several paintings here.

All along these three boulevards you will find a large number of shops specialised in photo equipment for professionals as well as for amateurs. Boulevard du Temple has another specific link to photography. This is where for the first time in history a person was photographed. The photo was taken by Louis Daguerre in 1838. As the exposure time was about ten minutes, only two persons involved in shoe shining and remaining fairly immobile (lower left corner) can be seen. There are also some shops specialised in music instruments, motor bikes (Harley Davidson)… … and a number of other interesting shops, cafés and restaurants.Boulevard du Temple used also to be called the Crime Boulevard, not really due to the number of crimes here, but to the type of theatre plays that were performed in a number of theatres situated in the northern part of this street. They are now all gone with the exception of a relatively small one, from which you can here see the modest entrance, Théâtre de Déjazet (from 1859). A lot of French stars have performed here and for the cinema lovers it may be interesting to know that “Les Enfants du Paradis” (“Children of Paradise”), by Marcel Carné and Jacques Prévert, a French “classic”, to a large part was filmed here. When we later will proceed along the boulevards, we will find a lot of theatres, most of them private and with a fairly popular repertoire, what very appropriately is called the “Boulevard Theatre”.

You can find some of these pictures on my photo blog.

Sunday afternoon...

Today I had the intention – and had yesterday started to prepare - a post on the Grands Boulevards, as promised. However, I decided to make a short break and first report on my Sunday.

We decided after lunch to meet with children and grandchildren in front of the Grand (Ferris) Wheel which was temporarily installed on Place de la Concorde, just in front of the Tuileries Gardens, a couple of weeks before Christmas. It will be dismantled today, as well as – quite late – the Christmas decorations on the Champs Elysées. We had first a walk in the Tuileries Gardens. Both Paloma (now five years) and Mattias (now 16 months) were happy to be able to walk and run around freely. After a warm chocolate (and coffee for me), and the daylight disappearing, we decided to make a tour on the wheel. This gave me the opportunity to take a photo of the Champs Elysées in the opposite direction, compared to the one I recently took from the Arch of Triumph. When leaving the family, starting to walk, I stopped at the Madeleine Church (five minutes from Place de la Concorde), as I was surprised by a small demonstration with banners and torches organised in honour of the poor King Louis XVI, who was guillotined on Place de la Concorde 215 years ago (January 21st, 1793). There are still some fervent royalists around! Some of these pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Tomorrow we will start the walk along the Grands Boulevards… promised!

Walls

This post will be a bit different; no photos at all! This is a preparation for what normally will follow next week. You have all the weekend to digest this one, if you have the courage!

My intention is to make a few posts about the « Grands Boulevards », meaning a number of avenues you can follow from Place de La Bastille to the Madeleine Church – or vice versa, via Place de la République, Opéra Garnier etc…. Along the “Grands Boulevards” you can find a lot of theatres, cinemas, restaurants…; Paris has not only one city centre for entertainment and nightlife, but several. These boulevards are following the trace of an ancient defence wall.

Before starting the “visit”, I thought it would be worthwhile to give a short history lesson (again). I have tried to trace on a Google map where the different Paris walls have existed. I’m afraid that only a few of you may possibly find this interesting, but I do it anyhow (sorry).

You can still find a few traces of the “Philippe-Auguste wall” built around 1200 in some older buildings and even part of the real wall (my post on “St.Paul etc…”).

This wall was replaced during the latter part of the 14th century. La Bastille was then part of the defence and some stones of La Bastille can still be found (my post on “La Bastille”).

In the beginning of the 17th century this wall was rebuilt and extended and became the “Louis XIII wall”. It did not last for long. The son of Louis XIII, Louis XIV, decided some decades later, in 1670, to demolish this wall, “open” the city… and replace the wall by the “Grands Boulevards”.

You would think that this was the end of the walls. However, a new wall, called “Fermiers Généraux”, was built 1785-88, but the reason was this time purely commercial; taxes to be paid at different gates. The “Fermiers Généraux” was a corporation of “tax farmers” who collected taxes for the monarchy, including on food, beverages, building material etc. brought into the city. Note that the wall was completed just before the Revolution, was hated by most of the habitants and that the tax collection was stopped immediately after the Revolution (and that most of the “tax farmers” were guillotined). The last traces of this wall had disappeared around 1860 in connection with the opening up of new large streets and boulevards (Haussmann).

The last wall, the “Thiers wall”, was built 1841-44 and now again for clear defence purposes. It was destroyed after World War I and replaced by some kind of ring road boulevards, “Boulevards Exterieurs”, also called the “Boulevards Maréchaux”, still today more or less following the Paris city limits.

I wish you a nice weekend! (Happy reading!)

Hundred (or more) years ago

Now and then I like to compare illustrations from Paris in the past with Paris today and I have concentrated on the streets around where I live, in the Batignolles area, 17th arrdt. Here are two more of such comparisons.

This first one is based on a postcard, probably from the very beginning of last century, of Rue Legendre close to where it crosses Avenue de Clichy. The vehicles used for public transportation have changed… and a few other things, but a lot remains as it was. You can see that the building which partly was visible on the extreme right has been replaced by a modern building and the idea from the city architect was then obviously to make space for a wider street one day. It will probably take quite some time before the street can be made wider. The second comparison is based on a drawing, which probably is from 1870-1880(?), of the crossing of Rue Lemercier and Rue des Dames. There was then obviously a store owned by someone with an English name, but I have not managed to find any trace of this “H. Didsbury” store, today replaced by an “Ultra Kitch” shop. I imagine that if someone finds my photo in some 120 or 130 years, he or she will not find any trace of the “Ultra Kitsch” shop. … and of the buildings?

Especially for the attention of some possible more local blog visitors, I put in a map to show “where”.

La Pagode

Sometimes you find some for Paris surprising architectures. Here is an example of an oriental looking pagoda, which actually is a cinema, logically called “La Pagode”.

It’s a bit “hidden” in an area of Paris which is not so much spontaneously visited by cinema-goers (57 bis, rue de Babylone, 7th) - not far from the Rodin Museum. It was built some more than 100 years ago and first used as a private ballroom, later made public. In the 1930’s it was transformed to a cinema.

During the 1970’s it became rather an art movie theatre. In the 90’s its future seemed quite dark, but it has in the meantime been officially “classified” and the present owner has an obligation to keep it as a cinema. The films showed now are “normal” ones, not necessarily art movies.

There is a lot of renovation work needed and partly ongoing and you can see some plastic covers on the roof. There is a small garden in front of the building, which was open when I passed. The grey weather and the naked trees made the pictures a bit dull, but on the other hand it made the building more easily visible and I had no shadow problems.
The movies proposed when I passed did not incite me to pay a ticket and I was not sure to be able or allowed to take any pictures inside anyhow – a pity as the major theatre (a smaller more modern one has been added) is quite spectacular. I show you instead a picture “stolen” on Google.

Mid-month-theme: subway day

Each 15th of a month, I’m participating in a common “mid-month-theme” about subways (underground, metro, tunnelbana…) together with bloggers in New York and Stockholm. This month’s theme is “people waiting”.

One of the “rules” with which I have to struggle is to choose only ONE photo. I have chosen this one which shows a metro platform, Place-de-Clichy, line 13, around 6 p.m.. I could have chosen another photo from another station at 1 a.m. with a much less populated quay.

You can find today’s post and some other subway posts by using the following links:

New York City Daily Photo – Stockholm by pixels – PHO (Paris).