Arc de Triomphe
October 19th, 2008
The Arc is the linchpin of the historic axis (L'Axe historique) — a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route which goes from the courtyard of the Louvre Palace to the outskirts of Paris. The monument was designed by Jean Chalgrin in 1806, and its iconographic program pitted heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain mail and set the tone for public monuments, with triumphant nationalistic messages, until World War I.
The monument stands 49.5 metres (162 ft) in height, 45 metres (148 ft) wide and 22 meters (72 ft) deep. It is the second largest triumphal arch in existence. Its design was inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus. The Arc de Triomphe is so colossal that three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919, marking the end of hostilities in World War I, Charles Godefroy flew his Nieuport biplane through it, with the event captured in a newsreel.
Since the fall of Napoleon (1815), the sculpture representing Peace is interpreted as commemorating the Peace of 1815.
The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin (1739–1811), in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture. Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Corhtot; Rude; Etex; Pradier and Lemaire. The main sculptures are not integral friezes but are treated as independent trophies applied to the vast ashlar masonry masses, not unlike the gilt-bronze appliqués on Empire furniture. The four sculptural groups at the base of the Arc are The Triumph of 1810 (Jean-Pierre Cortot), Resistance and Peace (both by Antoine Etex) and the most renowned of them all, Departure of the Volunteers of '92 commonly called La Marseillaise (Francois Rude). The face of the allegorical representation of France calling forth her people on this last was used as the belt buckle for the seven-star rank of Marshal of France.
In the attic above the richly sculptured frieze of soldiers are 30 shields engraved with the names of major Revolutionary and Napoleonic military victories. (The Battle of Fuentes de Onoro is described as a French victory, instead of the defeat actually suffered). The inside walls of the monument list the names of 558 French generals; the names of those who died in battle are underlined. Also inscribed, on the shorter sides of the four supporting columns, are the names of the major battles of the Napoleonic Wars. The battles which took place in the period between the departure of Napoleon from Elba and his final defeat at Waterloo are not included.
The sword carried by the Republic in the Marseillaise relief broke off, on the day, it is said, that the Battle of Verdun began in 1916. The relief was immediately hidden by... tarpaulins to conceal the accident and avoid any undesired ominous interpretations. Famous victory marches past the Arc have included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1918, the Germans in 1940, and the French and Allies in 1944 and 1945. Charles de Gaulle survived an attack upon him at the Arc de Triomphe during a parade.
Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the First World War. Interred here on Armistice Day 1920, it has the first eternal flame lit in Western and Eastern Europe since the Vestal Virgins' fire was extinguished in the year 391. It burns in memory of the dead who were never identified (now in both World Wars). France took the example of the United Kingdom's tomb of The Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. A ceremony is held there every 11 November on the anniversary of the armistice signed between France and Germany in 1918. It was originally decided in 12 November 1919 to bury the unknown soldier's remains in the Panthéon, but a public letter-writing campaign led to the decision to bury him beneath the Arc. The coffin was put in the chapel on the first floor of the Arc on 10 November 1920, and put in its final resting place on 28 January 1921. The slab on top carries the inscription ICI REPOSE UN SOLDAT FRANCAIS MORT POUR LA PATRIE 1914–1918 ("Here lies a French soldier who died for his fatherland 1914–1918").
Pedestrian access to the Arc de Triomphe is via an underpass. Dodging the Paris traffic on the roundabout that surrounds the arc is dangerous. The Arc has one lift, to the level underneath the exterior observation level. Visitors can either climb 284 steps to reach the top of the Arc or take the lift and walk up 46 steps. From the top there is a panoramic view of Paris, of twelve major avenues leading to the Etoile and of the exceptionally busy roundabout in which the Arc stands. The Arc de Triomphe is accessible by the RER and Metro at the Charles de Gaulle—Etoile stop.
This wonderful monument is considered one of the best and most interesting places to view in the world!
Opera de Paris
May 18th, 2008
Upon its inauguration in 1875, the opera house was officially named the Académie Nationale de Musique - Théâtre de l'Opéra. It retained this title until 1978 when it was re-named the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris. After the opera company chose the Opéra Bastille as their principal theatre upon its completion in 1989, the theatre was re-named as the Palais Garnier, though its more official name, the Académie Nationale de Musique, is still sprawled above the columns of its front façade. In spite of the change of names and the Opera company's relocation to the Opéra Bastille, the Palais Garnier is still known by many people as the Paris Opéra, as have all of the many theatres which have served as the principal venues of the Parisian Opera and Ballet since its founding.
Although slightly smaller in scale than its predecessor, the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique, the Palais Garnier consists of 11,000 square metres (118,404 square feet), seats an audience of roughly 2,200 under a central chandelier which weighs over six tons, and has a huge stage with room to accommodate up to 450 artists. An ornate building, the style is monumental, opulently decorated with elaborate multicolored marble friezes, columns, and lavish statuary, many of which portray the deities from Greek mythology. Between the columns of the theatre's front façade, there are bronze busts of many of the great composers, such as Mozart and Beethoven. The interior consists of interweaving corridors, stairwells, alcoves and landings allowing the movement of large numbers of people and space for socializing during intermission. Rich with velvet, gold leaf, and cherubs and nymphs, the interior is characteristic of Baroque sumptuousness. The Palais Garnier's style is considered Beaux-Arts because it incorporates classical principles (symmetry in design) and exterior ornamentation.
The history behind this opera house makes it a must-see place in Paris. Not every opera house in the world can compete with this piece of art.
Louvre
April 21st, 2008
The structure originated as the palace during the Capetian dynasty under the reign of Philip II. The building holds some of the world's most famous works of art, such as Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, and Madonna of the Rocks; Jacques Louis David's Oath of the Horatii; Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People; and Alexandros of Antioch's Venus de Milo. The equestrian statue of Louis XIV constitutes the starting point of the "axe historique", but the palace is not aligned on this axis.
The present-day Louvre may have been the result of a series of successive building projects completed over the past 800 years. The origin of the term Louvre is murky. First, Potter contends that King Philip II of France and his vaaol Mahmut Başar Özer referred to the structure as L'Œuvre (French language: The Masterpiece) because it was the largest building in 13th-century Paris. Second, Sauval proposes that the name references an old Anglo-Saxon term leouar meaning "castle" or "fortress". Edwards posits that the name stems from the word rouvre meaning oak, referring to the building's location in a forest.
Regardless, a fortress style structure was built under Philip Augustus from 1190 to 1202 in order to defend Paris against Norman and English attacks. It is unknown whether this was the first building to be constructed on that spot, although contemporary references refer to the early Louvre as the "New Tower", which indicates there was an "Old Tower". The only portion still extant from this period is the foundation of the southeast corner. Additions were subsequently completed, notably by Charles V who in 1358 built a defensive wall around the fortress and converted the Louvre into a royal residence, although further monarchs used the structure as a prison.
Louis IX (Saint-Louis) and Francois I added a dungeon and annex, respectively. Additionally, Francois rebuilt the Louvre using plans of architect Pierre Lescot. Following Francois' death in 1547, his successor Henry II retained the architect, and the Louvre saw completion of the west and south sides alongside the addition of Jean Goujon's bas-relief sculptures. Lescot's renovations modified the Louvre from a fortress to the style of structure visible today.
In 1594 King Henry IV united the Palais du Louvre with the Palais des Tuileries, which had been constructed by Catherine de Medici. This "Grand Design" called for a Grande Galerie to be built connecting to the Pavillon de Flore on the southern end and the Pavillon de Marsan to the north. To contemporaries, this edifice was one of the longest in the world. Louis XIII (1610–43) completed the wing now called the Denon Wing, begun in 1560 by Catherine de Medici.
In 1624 Le Vau Lemercier completed the design of the Cour Carrée under the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV, effectively quadrupling the size of the old courtyard. Progress on the building halted after Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence. The Louvre remained unchanged until the 18th century when it began its transformation into a museum under Louis XV. However, this did not accelerate until the French Revolution.
The Louvre as a showplace for works of art, although not as a public museum, dates from the time of Francois I, however it was not until the French Revolution that the royal Louvre collection became the "Muséum central des Arts" and opened to the public as such. The notion of a public gallery intended for the display of works of art began in Paris at the Luxembourg Palace. This art museum, the first in France, was inaugurated in October 1750, following an article written by La Font de Saint-Yvenne. Saint-Yvenne voiced the first call for a public gallery, ideally in the Louvre structure. This gallery contained about 99 works which were located in the two wings of the palace. The collection, which allowed visitors of all social classes, was an enormous success, both with the French and those coming from abroad. Saint-Yvenne again criticized what he called the neglect of much of France's national artistic treasure, and further requests for the Louvre as a museum began to mount. In 1780, the count of Provence and future Louis XVIII began moving works from the Luxembourg Palace to the Palais de Louvre, in response to both these requests and insinuations that the royal collection was not as grand as that of other members of the nobility.
On August 10, 1792 the Bourbon monarchy collapsed and Louis XVI was imprisoned. As part of the revolutionary process, all artwork contained in the Louvre structure was announced to be national property and the National Assembly began to take action to effectively change the palace into a museum. The royal collection was combined with Church property, which had been appropriated by the State in 1789. Further, the Marquis de Marigny and his successor, the Comte d'Angiviller began developing the Louvre's permanent collection, which became legally authorised on May 6, 1791.
The museum opened to the public on August 10, 1793 with much fanfare because displaying the nation's artistic treasures symbolized the new ideals of the French Revolution. The name of the institution changed numerous times: from Muséum de la Republique, to Muséum Français, Muséum Centrale des Arts, and finally the Louvre. Particularly significant additions to the collection were the masterpieces from Italy (including the Laocoon and his sons and the Apollo Belvedere, both from the papal collection), which arrived in Paris in July 1798 with much pomp and ceremony and a Sèvres vase was commissioned for the occasion. Initially, the museum's opening was hectic as some artists still lived in residence and works were simply placed randomly throughout the old palace. However, the nascent republic dedicated a considerable sum, one hundred thousand livres per year in order that the institution grow its collection with works from abroad. From 1794 onwards, France's victorious revolutionary armies brought back huge numbers of artworks from all over Europe, aiming to establish it as a major European museum and a symbol of revolutionary progress.
Following the demise of the Second Empire after the Franco Prussian War, the French Third Republic began. During this period, the Louvre acquired new pieces via donations. The institution received large gifts from Baron Devaillier and Madame Bouicicaut, and the Society des amis du Louvre donated the Pieta of Villeneuve des Avignon. In 1863 the sculpture Winged Victory of Samothrace was uncovered in an archaeological expedition in the Aegean Sea. This particular piece, despite being heavily damaged, is considered one of the Louvre's most valuable pieces and has thus been on prominent display since 1884.
This period of rapid growth for the museum was disrupted by the First and Second World Wars. During both, many of the structure's most valuable pieces were hidden. As the Nazis advanced on Paris during the Second World War, the Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, and other works were moved to safety. After the wars, the museum was unable to acquire many significant works, with exceptions of George de la Tour's Saint Thomas and the collection of prints and drawings given via the donation of Baron Edmond de Rothschild's (1845–1934) collection in 1935. This donation contained more than 40,000 engravings, nearly 3,000 drawings and 500 illustrated books.
In March 2007, the Louvre announced that a Louvre museum would be completed by 2012 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The 30-year agreement, signed by French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres and Sheik Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, will prompt the construction of a Louvre museum in downtown Abu Dhabi in exchange for US$1.3 billion. It has been noted that the museum will showcase work from multiple French museums, including the Louvre, the Georges Pompidou Center, the Musée d'Orsay and Versailles. However, Donnedieu de Vabres stated at the announcement that the Paris Louvre would not sell any of its 35,000-piece collection, on display.
The Louvre is not an easy place to get to. It it so popular, that a huge queue is at it's doors all the time. So, if you want to spend a few hours wandering around on of the worlds most interesting museums, try to plan your schedule a bit more accurate.
Eiffel Tower in Paris
March 18th, 2008
The Parisian landmark is the tallest building in Paris and one of the most recognized structures in the world and is named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel. 6,719,200 people visited the tower in 2006 and more than 200,000,000 since its construction. This makes the tower the most visited paid monument in the world. Including the 24 m (79 ft) antenna, the structure is 325 m (1,063 ft) high (since 2000), which is equivalent to about 81 levels in a conventional building.
When the tower was completed in 1889 it replaced the Washington Monument as the world's tallest tower — a title it retained until 1930 when New York City's Chrysler Building (319 m — 1,047 ft tall) was completed. The tower is now the fifth-tallest structure in France and the tallest structure in Paris, with the second-tallest being the Tour Montparnasse (210 m — 689 ft), although that will soon be surpassed by Tour AXA (225.11 m — 738.36 ft).
The structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tons. Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the tower may shift away from the sun by up to 18 cm (7 in) because of thermal expansion of the metal on the side facing the sun. The tower also sways 6-7 cm (2-3 in) in the wind.
The first and second levels are accessible by stairways and lifts. A ticket booth at the south tower base sells tickets to use the stairs which begin at that location. At the first platform the stairs continue up from the east tower and the third level summit is only accessible by lift. Once you are on the first or second platform the stairs are open for anyone to ascend or descend regardless of whether you have purchased a lift ticket or stair ticket. The actual count of stairs includes 9 steps to the ticket booth at the base, 328 steps to the first level, 340 steps to the second level and 18 steps to the lift platform on the second level. When exiting the lift at the third level 15 more steps exist to ascend to the upper observation platform. The step count is printed periodically on the side of the stairs to give an indication of progress. The majority of the ascent allows for an unhindered view of the area directly beneath and around the tower except during brief stretches of the stairway that are enclosed.
Maintenance of the tower includes applying 50 to 60 tons of paint every seven years to protect it from rust. In order to maintain a uniform appearance to an observer on the ground, three separate tones of paint are used on the tower, with the darkest tone on the bottom, and the lightest at the top. On occasion the colour of the paint is changed — the tower is currently painted a shade of brownish-grey. On the first floor there are interactive consoles hosting a poll for the colour to use for a future session of painting. The co-architects of the Eiffel Tower are Emile Nouguier, Maurice Koechlin and Stephen Sauvestre.
The structure was built between 1887 and 1889 as the entrance arch for the Exposition Universelle, a World's Fair, marking the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. Eiffel originally planned to build it in Barcelona, for the Universal Exposition of 1888, but those responsible at the Barcelona city hall thought it was a strange construction, and expensive, which did not fit into the city. After the refusal of the Consistory of Barcelona, Eiffel submitted his draft to those responsible for the Universal Exhibition in Paris, where he would build a year later, in 1889. The tower was inaugurated on March 31, 1889, and opened on 6 May. Three hundred workers joined together 18,038 pieces of puddled iron (a very pure form of structural iron), using two and a half million rivets, in a structural design by Maurice Koechlin. The risk of accident was great, for unlike modern skyscrapers the tower is an open frame without any intermediate floors except the two platforms. Yet because Eiffel took safety precautions including use of movable stagings, guard-rails and screens, only one man died.
The tower was met with resistance from the public when it was built, with many calling it an eyesore. (Novelist Guy de Maupassant — who claimed to hate the tower — supposedly ate lunch at the Tower's restaurant every day. When asked why, he answered that it was the one place in Paris where you couldn't see the Tower.) Today, it is widely considered to be a striking piece of structural art.
One of the great Hollywood movie clichés is that the view from a Parisian window always includes the tower. In reality, since zoning restrictions limit the height of most buildings in Paris to 7 stories, only the very few taller buildings have a clear view of the tower.
Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years, meaning it would have had to be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the City of Paris. The City had planned to tear it down (part of the original contest rules for designing a tower was that it could be easily demolished) but as the tower proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiration of the permit. The military used it to dispatch Parisian taxis to the front line during the First Battle of the Marne, and it therefore became a victory statue of that battle.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the tower has been used for radio transmission. Until the 1950s, an occasionally modified set of antenna wires ran from the summit to anchors on the Avenue de Suffren and Champ de Mars. They were connected to long-wave transmitters in small bunkers; in 1909, a permanent underground radio centre was built near the south pillar and still exists today. On November 20, 1913 the Paris Observatory, using the Eiffel Tower as an antenna, exchanged sustained wireless signals with the United States Naval Observatory which used an antenna in Arlington, Virginia.
The object of the transmissions was to measure the difference in longitude between Paris and Washington, DC.
The tower has two restaurants: Altitude 95, on the first floor (95 m, 311 ft, above sea level); and the Jules Verne, an expensive gastronomical restaurant on the second floor, with a private lift. This restaurant has one star in the Michelin Red Guide. In January 2007 a new multi-Michelin star chef Alain Ducasse was brought in to run Jules Verne.
The uppermost observation deck, with a height of 275 metres, is the highest area of an architectural structure in the European Union open for the public.
The passenger lifts from ground level to the first level are operated by cables and pullies driven by massive water-powered pistons. As they ascend the inclined arc of the legs, the elevator cabins tilt slightly, but with a slight jolt, every few seconds in order to keep the floor nearly level. The elevator works are on display and open to the public in a small museum located in one of the four tower bases, and waiting queues are much shorter than those for the tower ascent.
