History of Paris in Seven Structures
When I think of Paris, I see it as a beautifully designed clock. Cars leisurely circle massive roundabouts and peel off, tracking long diagonal boulevards. Exposed metal trusses in the Eiffel Tower and the Grand Palais keep the city’s time like finely crafted clock hands. Beneath it lie the catacombs, for the French forget nothing and commemorate everything. All about Paris stand buildings and monuments that make it a historical record of living art, pointing backward in its inspiration and forward in its innovation. Paris is a paragon of urban design, combining functionality and beauty in an interactive work of art that is daily life, the simple passage of time.
Here are my choices for seven structures that tell the story of Paris. I purposely strayed away from some obvious choices, but did include them in my commentary because they’re so ubiquitous.
RUE SAINT-JACQUES
Is a road a structure? Not really, but it’s a built thing, and that counts for me. This is a Roman road built sometime around the Empire’s occupation in 52 BC. Before that, the city belonged to the Celtic tribes of the area known as the Parisii. When Julius Caesar’s army came through, they renamed the city Lutetia, which is probably related to the Latin word for swamp. Before it was a network of roads made for walking, the city was just confined to Ile de la Cite, or City Island where Notre Dame now sits. Seeing that the city was situated on a large river, the Romans deemed it a good place to expand their empire. This road connects the ancient island settlement to the University of Paris (founded 1150) and the Baths of Cluny, one of the oldest remaining buildings in Paris and an ancient YMCA of sorts. The baths are now a part of the Museum of Cluny. No relation to the handsome actor.
SAINTE CHAPELLE
After the fall of Rome, the Frankish tribes gained control of Paris. In 774 rule passed to Charlemagne, who extended the Frankish kingdom to include Rome and came to be recognized as the “Father of Europe.” Charlemagne was crowned Emperor by the Pope in 800, and succession passed to his son Louis I, the first of many Louies. When Louis IX built Sainte Chapelle in 1238, it became the royal chapel, modeled after Charlemagne’s royal chapel in modern day Germany. Along with Notre Dame, these two gothic behemoths built 85 years apart occupy the ancient site of City Island. The Catholic church housed Christ’s purported crown of thorns in the Sainte Chapelle until the French Revolution, when the relic was moved to Notre Dame, until the fire of 2019 moved it to the Louvre.
CITY HALL PLAZA
This is a good enough spot to characterize the French love for protest and revolution. The plaza here was originally called the Place de Greve, describing the river bank or greve where it was founded. Assassins, bandits, heretics, and sorceresses were executed here during the middle ages. Leading up to the French Revolution, protestors planned to burn an effigy of Marie Antoinette at this site in 1788. The military caught wind and dispersed the crowd, killing many in the process. Revolutionary fervor was not quelled, however, and this plaza became the first site of the infamous guillotine in 1792. The place has such a hold on French thinking that the french word “greve” now also means “strike.” The beautiful City Hall here was first constructed in 1357 and expanded over the years.
ARC DE TRIOMPHE
History loves a gambler. History loves a conqueror. Napoleon was born into humble means on the then-Italian island of Corsica. He went to a military academy and rose through the ranks to eventually conquer most of Europe, hardly losing a battle in all of his military career. When The Russian, British, and Austrian Empires grew tired of him, they declared war. However, Napoleon attacked first and defeated the Austrians before marching to meet the Russians at Austerlitz. Napoleon performed best when he was outnumbered, and after routing the Russian army, he fired his cannons upon the frozen lake where his enemy retreated, consuming tens of thousands of lives. He declared it the greatest day of his life and commissioned the then-largest triumphal arch in the world in the style of the Romans. Construction was paused when Napoleon was exiled for finally losing. The arch was finished in 1836, a symbol of state and conquest that outlasted the Parisian revolutions of 1830 and 1848. The arch however is not Napoleon’s, any more than any conquered thing. The Nazis hung their flag from it when they occupied Paris in 1940. Napoleon never passed under the arch, as its commissioners are supposed to do, until his bones returned to Paris from exile.
LES DUEX MAGOTS
Why does all of Paris look like that? Because when Napoleon III took over for his uncle, he commissioned one man to turn smelly, decrepit Paris into the smelly, beautiful place it is today. (One can only assume that despite the many advances in sanitation, Paris will maintain its olfactory imprint like an aged cheese.) Georges-Eugene Haussmann tore down everything he deemed too rickety with the blessing of Napoleon III. He rebuilt massive sections of the city in this same style from 1853-1870 and it gives Paris the stately air that it has today. One of these buildings now houses Les Deux Magots (the two statues), which during the 1920s became a favorite for world-famous artists and thinkers such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, Pablo Picasso, James Joyce, Julia Child, James Baldwin, and Richard Wright. God bless these types of places where drinks are poured, connections are made, and ideas are exchanged.
LOUVRE PYRAMID
When photographing the Louvre from the outside, one first notices the modern pyramid that fits the trussed-steel aesthetic of some of Paris’s most iconic buildings. This style cropped up time and again as Paris reinvented its image to welcome the future at World Fairs. The Eiffel Tower was constructed for the 1889 World’s Fair in a modern interpretation of a square-based triangular pyramid. The Louvre Pyramid, built almost 100 years later, is a sort of melding between the Eiffel Tower and the Pyramids of Giza, celebrating the world’s most renowned collection of art by paying homage to empire and identity. Behind this pyramid lies what was originally the Louvre royal palace, constructed in 1202. That initial stonework was built as Philip II embarked on the largely unsuccessful third crusade. Now Paris doesn’t have to march for its artifacts, it just has to ask politely.
LOUIS VUITTON FOUNDATION
Paris is home to the luxury brand conglomerate LVMH, whose founder Bernard Arnault is constantly vying with Elon Musk for the title of richest person in the world. Though LVMH contains 75 brands, Louis Vuitton stands at the forefront of the Group’s name because of its established reputation. Founded in 1854, Louis Vuitton has deftly reinvented itself over recent decades to maintain an established brand amidst unprecedented popularity in hip hop culture. Louis Vuitton’s two last men’s creative directors are Virgil Abloh, who got his start with Kanye West’s fashion line, and Pharrell Williams, one of the most successful hip hop producers of all time. The company understands how to make a luxury brand both classic and edgy at the same time. This spirit is embodied in the 2014 deconstructivist creation here by architect Frank Gehry. It sits in the massive Bois de Boulogne parks outside of Paris where royals used to hunt. The building utilizes sustainable principles, with architect Gehry stating it “would evolve according to the time and the light in order to give the impression of something ephemeral and continually changing.” The building will then operate as an impressionist painting, much like the city itself.
Paris continues to evolve, keeping time through the impressions of previous ages. Understanding its function beyond that of the luxury capital of the world, Paris plans to become one of the most sustainable cities in the near future. Its public water programs are revolutionary, and it is ambitiously committed to increasing dedicated green space in the city from 9.5% to a full 50% by 2030.
