The Paris Book

“Paris is always that monstrous marvel, that amazing assemblage of activities, of schemes, of thoughts; the city of a hundred thousand tales, the head of the universe.” Balzac’s description is as apt today as it was when he penned it. The city has featured in many songs, it is the atmospheric setting for countless films and novels and the focal point of the French chanson, and for many it will always be the “city of love”. And often it’s love at first sight.

Whether you’re sipping a café crème or a glass of wine in a street café in the lively Quartier Latin, taking in the breathtaking panoramic view across the city from Sacré-Coeur, enjoying a romantic boat trip on the Seine, taking a relaxed stroll through the Jardin du Luxembourg or appreciating great works of art in the museums – few will be able to resist the charm of the French capital.

THE PARIS BOOK invites you on a fascinating journey around the city, revealing its many different facets in superb colour photographs and informative texts. Fold-out panoramic photographs present spectacular views of this metropolis, a major stronghold of culture, intellect and savoir-vivre that has always attracted many artists and scholars, adventurers and those with a zest for life. Page after page, readers will discover new views of the highlights of the city, which Hemingway called “a moveable feast”.

UK£ 20 / US$ 29,95 / € 24,95

ISBN 978-3-95504-264-6

Cover photograph: View towards the famous Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, Île de la Cité.

Paris HigHligHts of a fascinating city

”To breathe Paris is to preserve one‘s soul.“ Victor Hugo (1802–1885) It is in this sense, and with the help of breathtaking photographs and inspiring texts, that THE PARIS BOOK wishes to convey to its readers the unique flair of the city. Everyone probably knows the big names and places that have made this metropolis so famous: Notre-Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Pompidou Centre, the Champs-Élysées, plus de Beauvoir, Sartre … Yet you can only really appreciate the attraction and fascination they exert when experiencing them up close. It is hoped, therefore, that this photographic volume may be beneficial not only for the wellbeing of your own soul but that it would also make the soul of Paris come alive in words and images.

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ARISTOCRATIC CITY PALACES IN LE MARAIS Le Marais has been part of Paris since the con-

“madhouse”. In the following period, Le Marais

whose Breton name was modified to become the

struction of the “new” city wall in the 14th century.

became the focal point of courtly life. Magnificent

French “Carnavalet”. There is, however, a more

The district was given this status when Charles V

city palaces were built, including the Hôtel de

amusing legend regarding the name, which told

(1364–1380, known as the Wise) left the royal pal-

Sens, the Hôtel de Sully, the Hôtel de Soubise and

that the 19-year-old widow was so bored in her

ace on the Île de la Cité and moved into the Hôtel

the Hôtel Carnavalet, which was built from 1548

palace that the courtiers decided to cheer her up

St-Paul, between the Rue St-Antoine and the road

for Jacques de Ligneris, president of the parlia-

by introducing crowds of admirers, whose cos-

along the banks of the Seine. His son Charles VI,

ment of Paris at the time. In 1578, Carnavalet came

tumes became increasingly extravagant in their

who ascended the throne in 1380, at the age of

under the ownership of Françoise de la Baume-

attempt to outdo each other so that their arrival

only twelve, is said to have made the palace into a

Montrevel, widow of the Sire de Kernevenoy,

resembled a carnival procession.

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ÎLE DE LA CITÉ, ÎLE SAINT-LOUIS, RIVE DROITE

ARISTOCRATIC CITY PALACES IN LE MARAIS Many of the aristocratic palaces in Le Marais, built during the 17th and 18th centuries, are open to the public today. Left: The ceiling in the 18th-century Oval Salon of the Hôtel de Soubise depicts the History of Psyche by the rococo painter Charles-Joseph Natoire. The statue of Louis XIV in the middle of the court-yard (below), created by the sculptor Antoine Coysevox, was previously in the Hôtel de Ville.

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PLACE VENDÔME

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Place Vendôme, commissioned by Louis XIV and

have been wondering the same thing when he died

designed by architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, is

in Room 12 in 1849. There was once an equestrian

still the domain of the rich and beautiful. A num-

statue of the “Sun King” here, just like on Place

ber of famous international jewelers have their

des Victoires, but it was removed in 1792 during

shops here, and the Grand Hotel Ritz is an estab-

the Revolution. From 1810, the view was of a

lishment of world-renowned luxury. Writer Ernest

column surmounted by a statue of Napoleon and

Hemingway felt so at home in the hotel’s “Bar

built in the style of Trajan’s Column in Rome. In

Américain” that he apparently said he hoped

1870, the column was toppled by revolutionaries

heaven would be as inviting. Frédéric Chopin may

but was put back in its place three years later.

ÎLE DE LA CITÉ, ÎLE SAINT-LOUIS, RIVE DROITE

PLACE VENDÔME In the sea of lights at night on the Place Vendôme you will feel as if you have been taken back in time. The square owes its name to the Duc de Vendôme, an illegitimate son of Henry IV and Gabrielle d’Estrées, whose residence stood here. The Hotel Ritz is an institution that hit the headlines once again when Princess Diana set off from here on her fatal car journey in 1997.

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THE SORBONNE: OVER 750 YEARS OF EUROPEAN INTELLECTUALISM The history of the Sorbonne goes back to 1253,

pean intellectual life. Its distinguished graduates

1968, during which students egged each other on

when Robert de Sorbon (1201–1274) founded the

include Thomas Aquinas, Simone de Beauvoir,

with comments like “Be realistic, demand the im-

“Maison de Sorbonne”, with the financial support of

Marie Curie, Albertus Magnus, and Claude Lévi-

possible”. Today, four independent universities (of

the king. Sorbon was canon of the cathedral and

Strauss. Only one chapel remains of the new build-

thirteen in the city), share the name Sorbonne and

Louis IX’s confessor, and had assumed the name of

ing, created in the mid-17th century under Cardinal

the old complex of buildings in the Quartier Latin.

his native village in the Ardennes, hence the universi-

Richelieu. In the years 1885–1901, the Sorbonne

Known as Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris III

ty’s name. In his youth he had been a poor student,

was extended based on designs by Henri-Paul

Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris IV Paris-Sorbonne, and

and his college for indigent students of theology soon

Nénot and became the biggest university in France.

Paris V-René Descartes, they were created during

became one of the most important centers of Euro-

Closely linked with its name is the unrest of May

the university reform of 1970/71.

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THE SORBONNE: OVER 750 YEARS OF EUROPEAN INTELLECTUALISM The oldest surviving building at the university is the university chapel, designed by Jacques Lemercier between 1635 and 1642 (left). The Grand AmphithÊâtre (below top) is used for ceremonial occasions and provides space for 2,700 guests; the rooms of the library (below bottom) provide a suitably venerable home for the assembled volumes of eras gone by. Below left: the Galerie Richelieu.

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ÉDITH PIAF: THE “LITTLE SPARROW” Born on 15 December 1915 in Paris, Édith Piaf

she took the name “la môme Piaf,” (the sparrow

the boxer Marcel Cerdan, and which she recorded

became a symbol of the French chanson, famous

Piaf) which referred to her slight frame and

after his death, as well as her theme song “Non, je

all over the world for her striking voice and her

small size. Two years later, she had become a

ne regrette rien” (1960). Exhausted by a difficult

unmatched emotional power. Born Édith Giovanna

music-hall star. It was the start of a career

life and by painful rhumatoid arthritis which led

Gasson, the daughter of a pair of street artists,

during which she interpreted and made her own

her to seek alcohol and morphine, Édith Piaf died

she started life in utter poverty and spent some

unforgettable songs such as “Mon légionnaire”

on October 10, 1963 in Grasse. Thousands of peo-

of her childhood in a brothel run by her paternal

(1936), “L’accordéoniste” (1940), “La Vie en rose”

ple followed her funeral procession to the Père-

grandmother, before becoming a street singer in

(1946), “Hymne à l’amour” (1950), the lyrics for

Lachaise cemetery, and she remains one of the

1922 at the side of her father. Discovered in 1935,

which she penned after she met her future lover,

icons of the French chanson.

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ÉDITH PIAF: THE “LITTLE SPARROW” “The brat has everything in her throat but nothing in her feet,” was supposedly what Édith Piaf’s father said about her – he had wanted to make an acrobat out of her.

Fortunately, he failed, and the great little singer that she became remains in our memories with unfogettable songs like “La vie en rose,” “L’hymne à l’amour,” “Milord,” and “Non, je ne regrette rien.”

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WARLORD AND PATRON OF THE ARTS: FRANÇOIS I King François I (1515–1547) perfectly represented

tion to Fontainebleau, mention should be made

ately attacked him as part of shifting military alli-

the ideal of a Renaissance prince: cultivated, ener-

here above all of Chambord, the largest and most

ances. He even signed a treaty with the Ottoman

getic, and of “vast stature”, as his contemporaries

spectacular of the Loire châteaux. François was

sultan and the Protestant German princes, despite

admired, but also narcissistic, power-hungry and

the son of the Count of Angoulême and owes his

suppressing the Reformation violently within his

unscrupulous. He summoned important artists

coronation as king in 1515 to an arranged mar-

own country. In spite of all his efforts, however, he

like Leonardo da Vinci to his court, initiated the

riage with the only daughter of his predecessor,

was unable to capture Milan in the long term (and

royal painting collection, supported learning and

Louis XII. He would have liked to be crowned

thus ensure dominance in Upper Italy); nor was he

science, by founding the Collège de France, for ex-

emperor as well, but it was the Habsburg monarch

able to prevent France being caught up in the so-

ample, and had magnificent palaces built. In addi-

Charles V who took that honor. François immedi-

called “Habsburg clutch.”

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WARLORD AND PATRON OF THE ARTS: FRANÇOIS I The Gallery of François I at the Château de Fontainebleau was designed by several Mannerist artists. These artistic groups were later to be known as the “School of Fontainebleau.” Among the famous works of art there are the frescoes of Venus (left) and the “Allegory of Water; Allegory of Love” (below, 1535). The portrait of François I (below left) is by Jean Clouet (probably with his son François).

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