L'Indépendant du 4e Arrondissement de Paris

DXLVI : (post in English) : Cité : A métro entrance designed by Guimard.

Voici un article en aglais inspiré par un article écrit en français et publié le 16 mars 2009.

I publish this post in English because I've just read a book where I was suprised to learn that "between 1927 and 1962 all but two of the original stations (designed by Guimard) were dismantled, the remaining ones being at the Porte Dauphine and Abbesses. Many of them have been replaced with reproductions" (in Andrew BALLANTYNE, Architecture, A very short introduction, Oxford University Press, 2002.)

On march 16, 2009, I published a post in French about the metro entrance of the Cité station. It is an example of the Style "art nouveau" about which I also wrote several posts (for instance one about a building located 21 rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie).  

This entrance way was designed for the inauguration of the first line of the underground when an Universal exposition took place in Paris in 1900. Then, the full name of the "métropolitain" was written above the main entrance. The abbreviation "métro" appeared in the 1920's.

You can't not be amazed when looking at Art Nouveau settings designed according to plants and flowers.

DXLII (post in English) : Leave us alone

Voici la traduction en anglais d'un article publié en français le 8 novembre 2008.

Since Fall 2008, at the top of a wall of rue du Temple at the corner with rue Rambuteau (on the 3rd arrondissement's side), this strange picture can be seen (it hasn't disappeared since I wrote this post in French one year ago). It brought me to several thoughts :

1°) I still think that there's a lack of place in the center of Paris to express oneself freely and to exhibit all kinds of creativity. This example shows how inventive some people are. I have been observing fot quite some time mosaics of this kind but I had never seen such a large one before. When you pay attention to the place where it has been fixed, you can't help asking how it was done.

2°) The message "Leave us alone" which can mean in French "Laissez nous tout seul" ou "Laissez nous tranquille", can have several meanings :

A : it's about people from downtown Paris who are fed up with invading tourists. They would like to live quietly.

B : it's a caricature which denounces those who are aggressive against foreign visitors. The aspect of a bullwark behind which this person is standing is perhaps a clue which shows that is the right explanation.

C : As the board is turned towards the 4th arrondissement, it could be an artist sponsored by the mayor of the 3rd arrondissement... It is well known that Mr Adenbaum (mayor of the 3rd arrondissement) and Mrs Bertinotti (mayor of the 4th arrondissement), even if they are both members of the Socialist Party, are not actually good friends. For this interpretation, I may have been a bit too inventive...

This post was first published in French on November 8, 2009.
 

 

DXXXIX (post in English) Avenue Victoria : a reminder of a state visit at the Hotel de Ville on August 23rd 1855.

Cet article est paru en français le 8 mars 2009(à l'occasion de la Journée Mondiale de la femme).

I published this post in French on March 8, 2009, the day that is dedicated to Woman. "Avenue Victoria" is one of the very rare streets of Paris which has the name of a woman.

Avenue Victoria begins at place de l'Hôtel de Ville and finishes a few hundred metres further after place du Châtelet (in the 1st arrondissement).

This name was chosen after the State visit of Queen Victoria when she was welcome by the French Emperor Napoleon III in August 1855.

This had been narated by André Castelot in Historia (a French magazine about History) in August 1995. He wrote :

"On Thursday 23, the day finished by a ball organized in the Hôtel de Ville of Paris [...] Between two dances, arab chiefs were introduced to Queen Victoria. One of them, before the queen could stop him, lifted the Queen's skirt and kissed her calf, screaming "Honni soit qui mal y pense" (the motto of the prestigious order of the Garter). Mérimée (the famous French writer who was there) wrote that the queen didn't scream but she suffered from the difficulty she had in not breaking out in laughter.

In memory of this evening, the city of Paris asked queen Victoria the authorization to give her name to the new avenue which would be created to join place de l'Hôtel de Ville and place du Châtelet. The queen didn't need this hommage to remember this reception. It was impossible for her to forget :  the kiss to her calf given by the Arab Cheikh sufficed." 

An exhibit was displayed at the Compiegne Palace (80 Km North of Paris) until Januay 19th, 2009.  Here is a link to the catalogue of this exhibit.

 

 

DXXXIV (post in English) : the Philippe Auguste's bulwark and the Charlemagne's sports field

La version françase de cet article est paru le 19 juillet 2008.

The sports field, just near rue des Jardins Saint-Paul is a splendid place. The wall which limits this field is the most well-preserved part of the rampart which was built to surround Paris by king Philip II called in French "Philippe Auguste". It allows us to understand the size of this medieval bulwark which on the right bank of the Seine river spread North up to the current rue Etienne Marcel and West to the "Cour carrée" (squared court) of the Louvre. It was 9m high. Every 70m, there was a 14m high tower. This long wall was built to protect Paris (from an English invasion...) while the king was in the Near East : he had decided to be a crusader after the fall of Jerusalem in 1187. So, this construction was erected during the late 12th century. We can still admire the quality of the masonry.

You can look at a very interesting website about the Paris of Philippe Auguste : philippe-auguste.com. There, you can find a map with the location of the wall whose remnants can be seen rue des Jardins Saint-Paul.

In this place, there is the sports field of Charlemagne high school ("Lycée Charlemagne"). During summer you can play basketball just next to a construction which is eight centuries old.

The French original version of this post was first published on July 19th, 2008.

DXXX (post in English) : a magnificent heritage from the late 18th century

Voici la traduction en anglais d'un article paru en français le 22 décembre 2008.

By visiting the streets of the 4th arrondissement, inside the buildings, we can find splendid entrances and inner courts. When I published this post in French last year,  I was happy because the restoration of this location 24, rue Vieille-du-Temple had just been completed.

I found information about this place by reading a magazine Revue Paris Village N°19 (november/december 2006) where it is explained that the origins of this dwelling are almost forgotten. We just know that in 1792, its owner was an architect : Bénigne Joseph Varin who decided transformations that still exist today. The facade has a decoration "retour d'Egypte" (that's to say the epoch of Napoleon Bonaparte's reurn to France after his invasion of Egypt in 1798/1799). The transom [in French the "imposte", that's to say the frame above the door] is painted in blue.  Two griffins (legendary creatures with the bodies of lions and the heads and wings of eagles) are sculpted. Back to back, their paws hold a shield. Between them, in the center, there is a little palmed column.

Inside, there's a "caisson" ceiling. It was in a disastrous situation but it has been wonderfully restored. It is sustained by two massive columns which are typical of the "Directoire" period (the last period of the French Revolution from 1795 to 1799). We can see this kind of columns at the "rue des colonnes" in the 2nd arrondissement not far from the "Bourse" (the former Stock Exchange).

Thank you to Evan who helps me to translate this post into English.

This post was first published in French on December 22nd, 2008.

 

DXXVI (post in English) : Two magnificent horses on the door of the Hôtel Chenizot

(Article paru en français le 6 juin 2009).

The Hôtel Chenizot is a magnificent building. Its design is characteristic of the "rocaille style" which was popular during the first part of the 18th century. I already wrote a post about the balcony of the facade that one can see from rue Saint-Louis-en-l'île (post published in French on the blog "Le 4e que j'aime" on January 8th, 2008). I still deplore the disastrous state of the courtyard as you can notice if you go inside.

During one of my walks there, last spring, I noticed a detail I had never paid attention to before. On the door whose settings are also a magnificent exemple of the style rocaille, one can see two splendid horses made in bronze just above a lion's head :

Thank you to Evan who helped me to translate this post into English.

This post was first published in French on June 6th, 2009.
 

DXXII (post in English) : a trace of anti-judaism from the Middles Ages on the facade of Notre-Dame

(traduction en anglais de l'article publié le 28 septembre 2009).

During the Middle Ages, the Jews suffered from persecutions. In these times, the Church considered that the Jews had to be converted just before the end of times.

This prejudice against Judaism is shown by two statues which can be seen on the western facade of Notre-Dame cathedral (they are coloured in red on the photo above).

On the right, there's a lady with a helmet and a broken lance. She represents the "synagogue"  (or Jewish religion) :

The helmet hides the eyes of the statue. On the ground, there's a fallen crown and the lady holds the 10 commandments upside-down.

On the contray, on the left, there's the statue which represents the Church or christianity. The crown is on the lady's head. She holds a lance which is used as a banner and in her other she has a calice which contains  Jesus' blood :

 This opposition between the fallen synagogue and the triumphant church is a classic feature which can be seen on the facades of many cathedrals (for exemple the South transept of Strasbourg cathedral).

The current statues were sculpted during the 19th century because the old ones were destroyed during the French Revolution.

Thank you to Evan who helped me to translate this post into English.

This post was published in French on September 29th, 2009.

 

DXVIII (post in English) : The elm of Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais

A partir d'aujourd'hui, je publierai chaque vendredi la version anglaise d'un article déjà paru en français. Je commence par l'article CDXLII du 4 septembre 2009 qui était relatif à l'orme de Saint-Gervais Saint-Protais.

Today, I've  decided to publish every friday the English version of a post already published in French . I hope there won't be any big mistakes in my translations into English. I 'll begin with a post I published in French on September 4th, 2009 (you can read the French version). It was about the elm of Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais.

Since the Middle Ages, the Elm has been the symbol of the parish of Saint-Gervais-Saint-Portais church. That's why there is still nowadays an elm in the center of the square located in front of this church. As this church has given its name to  the district "quartier Saint-Gervais", this tree is also the symbol of this part of the 4th arrondissement of Paris.

In the Middle Ages, the inhabitants of this area of Paris used to meet here for the payment of debts. The current tree was planted in 1935 and it is 12m high according the official website of Paris.

We can also see this tree in the form of iron bars forged in the 18th century to decorate the building which is in the northern part of the church and one can see from rue François Miron and place Baudoyer :

Thank you to Evan who helped me to translate this post into English.

CCCLVI : A cheap place for sleeping in one of the oldest buildings of the 4th district

  Voici la traduction en anglais de l'article que j'avais publié le 30 octobre 2008, "Dormir pour pas cher dans un des plus vieux édifices du 4e arrondissement".

"On the corner of rue des Barres and rue du Grenier-sur-l'eau, facing the back of Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais's Church, one can find a building with a wooden façade (which is very rare in Paris).

It was the former town house where the monks from Maubuisson Abbey dwelt when they where in Paris and where they stored their crops to be sold. Maubuisson Abbey is located in Val d'Oise, North of Paris. It was created by Queen Blanche of Castilla, Saint Louis's mother, in 1242. The current building of rue des Barres was built around 1540. From 1664 until the French revolution, it served as a convent for the "young girls of the Cross" who were in charge of the education of girls.

On the façade facing onto the rue du Grenier-sur-l'eau, one can admire a corbelled construction which is hed up by a massive wooden mount. This kind of construction had almost desappeared nowadays (we can also find ones rue des arbalétriers, not far from here, in the 3rd district). They were common during the Middle Ages because they allow a maximum use of space which was lacking inside the city then. Furthermore, they also protected against rain and sun.

In this building, today is located the MIJE (a youth hostel) where one can find ones of the cheapest beds in the centre of Paris (29€ a night in the dormitories)".

 

CCCLII : Petition to save Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis church

Ce 17 avril est le jour anniversaire de notre regretté Raphaël. Il était particulièrement attaché à l'église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis. Cela me donne l'occasion de publier la traduction en anglais de la pétition qui circule pour dénoncer le report des travaux de restauration de la façade de cette église (voir l'article du 5 avril 2009) :

"Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis church is a religious architectural jewel from the 17th century. In this period, the Parisian "elite set" came in it to listen to sermons given by very famous Jesuit priests such as Bourdaloue or Bossuet. Here, one found the Grand Condé's tumb and two kings, Louis XIII and Louis XIV, had wished for their heart to be conserved within this church. Its remarkable façade is one of the rare example of Baroque Art in Paris. For many years, it has been necessary to restore this façade made of soft limestone from Saint-Leu. It is particulary fragile.

On the 5th of February 2008, pieces of stones fell onto the public pavement. Then, the "Préfecture de Police de Paris" had to declare a situation of danger for the public. To protect pedestrians, something very ugly was installed : the highest part of the façade has been covered by nets since.

The same year, on the 20th of may 2008, the restoration was voted by the district council. One of the "maire adjoint", a kind of deputy mayor, in charge with Culture and Heritage announced he needed quotes for the restoration and it was estimated 4,200,000 €. Afterwards, on the 16th and 17th of June 2008, the mayor of Paris was authorized to begin works by unanimous vote from the "Conseil de Paris".

However, on the 18th of december 2008, during a public meeting in the 4th district, the mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, announced to great surprise that the works would be delayed.

Yet, the restoration of this church remains an necessary matter. First, there is the danger of falling rocks. Second, it would give work for qualified craftsmen, and, third, there is an urgent need to intervene as this façade is deteriorating day by day.

We, residents, visitors and lovers od Paris, demand that the Mayor of Paris begin in this very year the restoration of the façade of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis church, as it was decided in 2008".

If you want further information or to sign the petition you can send an e.mail to the association : [email protected]