Place de la République in Paris

25 May 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  9 minutes

Monument de la Republique Francaise © Britchi Mirela/cc-by-sa-3.0

Monument de la Republique Francaise © Britchi Mirela/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Place de la République (formerly known as the Place du Château d’Eau) is a square in Paris, located on the border between the 3rd, 10th and 11th arrondissements. The square has an area of 3.4 ha (8.4 acres). It is named after the French Republic and was called the Place du Château-d’Eau until 1879. The Métro station of République lies beneath the square.   read more…

Montparnasse in Paris

18 April 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  10 minutes

Boulevard du Montparnasse © flickr.com - Edhral/cc-by-sa-2.0

Boulevard du Montparnasse © flickr.com – Edhral/cc-by-sa-2.0

Montparnasse is an area of Paris, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse was absorbed into the capital’s 14th arrondissement in 1669. The area also gives its name to Gare Montparnasse, Cimetière du Montparnasse, and Tour Montparnasse. The Pasteur Institute is located in the area. Beneath the ground are tunnels of the Catacombs of Paris. Students in the 17th century who came to recite poetry in the hilly neighbourhood nicknamed it after Mount Parnassus, home to the nine Muses of arts and sciences in Greek mythology. The hill was levelled to construct the Boulevard Montparnasse in the 18th century. During the French Revolution many dance halls and cabarets opened their doors. The area is also known for cafes and bars, such as the Breton restaurants specialising in crêpes (thin pancakes) located a few blocks from the Gare Montparnasse.   read more…

Centre Georges-Pompidou in Paris

11 March 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Museums, Exhibitions, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  11 minutes

Centre Georges-Pompidou © foto@NikolasBecker.de/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Centre Georges-Pompidou © foto@NikolasBecker.de/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Centre Georges Pompidou, commonly shortened to Centre Pompidou, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, along with Gianfranco Franchini. The sculpture, Horizontal by Alexander Calder, a free-standing mobile that is twenty-five feet high (7.6m), was placed in 2012 in front of the Centre Pompidou. The nearby Stravinsky Fountain (also called the Fontaine des automates), on Place Stravinsky, features sixteen whimsical moving and water-spraying sculptures by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle, which represent themes and works by composer Igor Stravinsky. The black-painted mechanical sculptures are by Tinguely, the colored works by de Saint-Phalle. The fountain opened in 1983. The Place Georges Pompidou in front of the museum is noted for the presence of street performers, such as mimes and jugglers. In the spring, miniature carnivals are installed temporarily into the place in front with a wide variety of attractions: bands, caricature and sketch artists, tables set up for evening dining, and even skateboarding competitions.   read more…

Portrait: Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann and the modernization of Paris

24 February 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Architecture, Paris / Île-de-France, Portrait Reading Time:  20 minutes

Baron Haussmann monument on the cross road of Boulevard Haussmann and Rue de Laborde © Ralf.treinen/cc-by-sa-3.0

Baron Haussmann monument on the cross road of Boulevard Haussmann and Rue de Laborde © Ralf.treinen/cc-by-sa-3.0

Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann, 27 March 1809 – 11 January 1891), was the Prefect of the Seine Department in France, who was chosen by the Emperor Napoleon III to carry out a massive program of new boulevards, parks and public works in Paris, commonly called Haussmann’s renovation of Paris. Critics forced his resignation for extravagance, but his vision of the city still dominates Central Paris. Haussmann was born in Paris on 27 March 1809, at 55 rue du Faubourg-du-Roule, in the neighborhood called Beaujon, in a house which he later demolished during his renovation of the city. Haussmann’s family originated from Alsace. He was the son of Nicolas-Valentin Haussmann (1787–1876), a senior official in the military establishment of Napoleon Bonaparte, and of Ève-Marie-Henriette-Caroline Dentzel, the daughter of a general and a deputy of French National Convention, Georges Frédéric Dentzel, a baron of Napoleon’s First Empire. He was the grandson of Nicolas Haussmann (1759–1847), a deputy of the Legislative Assembly and of the National Convention, an administrator of the Department of Seine-et-Oise, and a commissioner to the army.   read more…

The Place des Vosges in Paris

15 February 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  8 minutes

Place des Vosges © Gryffindor

Place des Vosges © Gryffindor

The Place des Vosges is the oldest planned square in Paris and one of the finest in the city. It is located in the Marais district, and it straddles the dividing-line between the 3rd and 4th arrondissements of Paris. Originally known as the Place Royale, the Place des Vosges was built by Henri IV from 1605 to 1612. A true square (140 m × 140 m), it embodied the first European program of royal city planning. It was built on the site of the Hôtel des Tournelles and its gardens: at a tournament at the Tournelles, a royal residence, Henri II was wounded and died. Catherine de’ Medici had the Gothic complex demolished, and she removed to the Louvre Palace.   read more…

Musée Picasso in Paris

30 December 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  7 minutes

Musée Picasso Paris in Hôtel Salé © Pol

Musée Picasso Paris in Hôtel Salé © Pol

The Musée Picasso is an art gallery located in the Hôtel Salé in rue de Thorigny, in the Marais district of Paris dedicated to the work of the artist Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). The hôtel particulier that houses the collection was built between 1656 and 1659 for Pierre Aubert, seigneur de Fontenay, a tax farmer who became rich collecting the gabelle or salt tax (the name of the building means “salted”). The architect was Jean Boullier from Bourges, also known as Boullier de Bourges; sculpture was carried out by the brothers Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy and by Martin Desjardins. It is considered to be one of the finest historic houses in the Marais. The Hotel Salé was selected for the Musée Picasso after some contentious civic and national debate. A competition was held to determine who would design the facilities. The proposal from Roland Simounet was selected in 1976 from amongst the four that were submitted. Other proposals were submitted by Roland Castro and the GAU (Groupement pour l’Architecture et l’Urbanisme), Jean Monge, and Carlo Scarpa. For the most part, the interior of the mansion (which had undergone significant modifications) was restored to its former spacious state.   read more…

The Marais in Paris

5 December 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  12 minutes

Place des Vosges © AlNo/cc-by-sa-3.0

Place des Vosges © AlNo/cc-by-sa-3.0

Le Marais (“The Marsh”) is a historic district in Paris. Long the aristocratic district of Paris, it hosts many outstanding buildings of historic and architectural importance. It spreads across parts of the 3rd and 4th arrondissements in Paris (on the Rive Droite, or Right Bank, of the Seine). In 1240 the Order of the Temple built its fortified church just outside the walls of Paris, in the northern part of the Marais. The Temple turned this district into an attractive area, which became known as the Temple Quarter, and many religious institutions were built nearby: the des Blancs-Manteaux, de Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie and des Carmes-Billettes convents, as well as the church of Sainte-Catherine-du-Val-des-Écoliers. From that time to the 17th century and especially after the Royal Square (Place Royale, current place des Vosges) was designed under King Henri IV in 1605, the Marais was the French nobility’s favorite place of residence. French nobles built their urban mansions there such as the Hôtel de Sens, the Hôtel de Sully, the Hôtel de Beauvais, the Hôtel Carnavalet, the Hôtel de Guénégaud and the Hôtel de Soubise.   read more…

The Arab World Institute in Paris

24 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  6 minutes

Pont de Sully (front) with the Institut du Monde Arabe in the background to the right, to the left the northern buildings of the Jussieu Campus © David Monniaux/cc-by-sa-3.0

Pont de Sully (front) with the Institut du Monde Arabe in the background to the right, to the left the northern buildings of the Jussieu Campus © David Monniaux/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Arab World Institute (abbreviated “AWI”; French: Institut du Monde Arabe, abbreviated “IMA”) is an organization founded in Paris in 1980 by 18 Arab countries with France to research and disseminate information about the Arab world and its cultural and spiritual values. The Institute also promotes cooperation and exchanges between France and the Arab nations, particularly in the areas of science and technology, contributing to the understanding between the Arab world and Europe. Libya joined the institute in 1984.   read more…

Rue des Rosiers in the Marais district

14 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Abxbay/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Abxbay/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Rue des Rosiers, which means “street of the rosebushes,” is a street in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. It begins at Rue Malher and proceeds northwest across Rue Pavée, Rue Ferdinand Duval, Rue des Écouffes, and Rue des Hospitalières Saint-Gervais before it ends at Rue Vieille du Temple.   read more…

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