Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History
in 1871, the Third Republic restored the Pavilions de Flore and de
Marsan.
But the vicissitudes of this wonderful pile of architecture are not
yet ended. The discovery of Perrault's base at the east and of
Lemercier's at the north, will inevitably lead to their proximate
disclosure. Ample space remains at the east for the excavation of a
wide and deep fosse, which would expose the wing to view as Perrault
intended it; but on the Rue de Rivoli side the problem is more
difficult, and probably a narrow fosse, or _saut de loup_, will be all
that space will allow there.
Napoleon I.'s new streets near the Tuileries and the Louvre soon
became the fashionable quarter of Paris. The Italian arcades and every
street name recalled a former victory of the Consulate in Italy and
Egypt. The military glories of a revolutionary empire, which at one
time transcended the limits of that of Charlemagne; which crashed
through the shams of the old world and toppled in the dust their
imposing but hollow state, were wrought in bronze on the Vendome
Column, cast from the cannon captured from every nation in Europe. The
Triumphal Arch of the Carrousel, crowned by the bronze horses from St.
Mark's at Venice; the majestic Triumphal Arch of the Etoile--a
partially achieved project--all paraded the Emperor's fame. Of more
practical utility were the quays built along the south bank of the
Seine and the bridges of Austerlitz and Jena, which latter Bluecher
would have blown up had Wellington permitted it.
The erection of the new church of the Madeleine, begun in 1764, had
been interrupted by the Revolution, and in 1806, Napoleon ordered that
it should be completed as a Temple of Glory. The Restoration
transformed it to a Catholic church, which was finally completed under
Louis Philippe in 1842, and it soon became the most fashionable place
of worship in Paris. Napoleon drove sixty new streets through the
city, cleared away the posts that marked off the footways, began the
raised pavements and kerbs, and ordered the drainage to be diverted
from the gutters in the centre of the roadway.
The Restoration erected two basilicas--Notre Dame de Lorette and St.
Vincent de Paul. The Expiatory Chapel raised to the memory of Louis
XVI. and Marie Antoinette on the site of the old cemetery of the
Madeleine--where they lay, until transferred to St. Denis, in one red
burial with the brave Swiss Guards who vainly spent their lives for
them--is now threatened with demolition. Three new bridges--of the
Invalides, the Archeveche and Arcole--were added, and fifty-five new
streets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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