Paris: Grant Allen's Historical GuidesAllen, Grant
History
Paris: Grant Allen's Historical Guides
Allen, Grant
Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- Guidebooks
The buildings already enumerated and the objects noted in them form the
most important sights in Paris, and are as many as the tourist is likely
to find time for visiting during a stay of some weeks. If, however, he
can add a few days to his sojourn, I give briefly some hints as to a
list of other objects worthy his notice—taking it for granted, of
course, that he will find his way to the Champs Élysées, the Bois de
Boulogne, the theatres, etc., by the light of nature, not unaided by
Baedeker. Amid the mass of information tendered in the ordinary Guides,
the visitor scarcely knows how to distinguish the necessary from the
optional. This short list may help him in his selection.
In the old region on the South Side (between the river and Cluny) are
two churches worth inspection by the antiquarian: (1) =St.
Julien-le-Pauvre=, the former chapel of the old Hôtel Dieu, which here
occupied both banks, spreading to the spot now covered by the statue of
Charlemagne; transitional; 12th cent.; and (2) =St. Séverin=, dedicated
to two local Gallic saints, of the same name; good flamboyant Gothic;
its interesting portal commemorates St. Martin, part of whose famous
cloak was kept in a chapel here; the _façade_ was brought from St.
Pierre-aux-Bœufs, on the Île de la Cité, demolished in 1837; good modern
reliefs on altar represent episodes in the lives of the two saints—St.
Séverin the Abbot healing Clovis, and St. Séverin the Hermit ordaining
St. Cloud. Altogether, a church to be visited and understood, rich in
historic interest.
Among churches of the later period, the =domes= and their development
are worthy of study, as illustrating the ideal of the 17th and 18th
cents. The earliest was =St. Paul et St. Louis= (originally Jesuit),
1627, with a massive and gaudy Louis XIV doorway; interior, florid and
tawdry, after the Jesuit fashion. Next comes the =Sorbonne=, 1635,
interesting from its original connection with St. Louis (his confessor,
Robert de Sorbon, founded the hostel, of which this is the far later
church, for poor theological students); it is the first important dome,
and contains an overrated monument to Richelieu by Lebrun, executed by
Girardon. If you have plenty of time, you may visit it. Then the
=Invalides=, 1705, now containing the tomb of Napoleon. Lastly, the
=Panthéon=, already described. If visited in this order, they form an
instructive series. Note the gradual increase in classicism, which
culminates in the =Madeleine=. The earlier domes resemble those of the
Rome of Bernini: the later grow more and more Grecian in their
surroundings. The =Institut= (included here for its dome) and
=Val-de-Grâce= are sufficiently inspected with a glance in passing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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