Trip to Paris

After a long absence, I’ve recently been to Paris. Yes, I ate countless pains au chocolat. But unlike the previous trips (done before some of my studies), this time I planned the historical/political visit: Louis XIV, Marie-Antoinette, the French Revolution, Napoleon, the cabarets of the ‘belle époque’, and more. On y va ?

On the other side of Champs de Mars, facing a famous tower

CAFÉ PROCOPE After my teleworking day was over, on Friday I went to Café Procope — the oldest running café in Paris, dates from 1686 and is the place where many political discussions of the Enlightenment took place. Indeed, François-Marie Arouet, also known as Voltaire, was one of its regulars. Not long after his death, the Procope became the place in which some of the main episodes of the French Revolution were planned and executed. Procope was a sort of HQ of the revolutionaries, that launched the attacks against the Tulièries from this café, in 1792, and the Phrygian cap (in the context of the Revolution) was first worn at the Procope. Or at least, so they say.

Today, you can visit it for lunch or dinner (prices just above average, in any case affordable if you think of the venue) or for coffee. I haven’t plotted any attack nor wore any hat, but I read some chapters of the Traité sur la Tolérance.

Café Procope: https://maps.app.goo.gl/qvbRmEgrRnUjG8an6

Café at Procope, served with a (Proustian?) madeleine

Plaque on the outside

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY On Saturday I woke up early and walked to Palais Bourbon, seat of the French Chamber of Deputies (one of the branches of the National Assembly, thus the Parliament). Just like other countries, such as Italy, France’s Parliament is divided in more than one building. How does it work in your country? You can leave your comments, below.

The palace’s construction, in Roman style, was ordered by Napoleon.

Palais Bourbon, façade

I booked a guided tour, which I think is the best to get a full sense of what you are seeing. Plus, in cases like this one, it is the only available option to access. Palais Bourbon is majestic and has different rooms and busts of important deputies, such as Victor Hugo, and also the figure of Marianne, the female representation of the Republic of France.

The most impressive room is, of course, the Salle de Séances:

The Ministers and Government’s seats, in the front benches

This is the place in which Charles de Gaulle, Simone Veil, François Mitterrand and many others sat, delivered their speeches, won and lost battles, and shaped the history of France and Europe.

Upon arrival, we were told that no guide would give us a tour (I didn’t get why). In any case, a guide was present in the Salle de Séances, and explained what I wanted to know. For instance, I learned that the unwritten rule of French politics says that the President never goes to Palais Bourbon, a draconian symbol of the division of powers.

I was happy to see enthusiasm among the group, that asked several questions. The guide was clear and patient.

The Lower Chamber has 577 members, directly elected for a five years mandate

Just a few steps away from the main room, the beautiful Library of the Chamber:

Feel like visiting the Assembly? https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/visite

DÓRA AND NOÉMIE After the visit, I met Dóra and Noémie, young female professionals who are building excellent careers. Dóra did her traineeship with us at the European Commission (EC) and is now at the Organisation for European Cooperation and Development (OECD), in Paris. Noémie has experience in the EC, the United Nations (UN), and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Both are good friends of mine, and I was glad I managed to introduce them and enjoy lunch and a walk together. Always invest in young, competent people.

LES INVALIDES Since my very first trip to Paris, in Dec 2007, I wanted to visit Les Invalides. For one reason or another, I kept on postponing it. Until now.

Les Invalides hosts today the large Army Museum, a Church with a dome, and a hospital. Indeed, it was originally thought as a residence for wounded soldiers. Conceived by Louis XIV, the Sun King (that will be eclipsed right here, we’ll see why and by whom), it was a way of looking after the ‘invalids’ that came back from the battlefield — it was a hospital where soldiers would be taken care of, and in some cases even work, therefore earning some money. There’s a section that still functions as a hospital. But back then, it was also an effective means of propaganda: men would go to war more willingly knowing that, in the unlucky case of severely wounded, there was a place for them home.

Les Invalides, main entrance

A new visit, a new guided tour. This time, the guide was there all the time. We started our visit in the dining room, where inmates would have their meals in a long table. If any of them didn’t behave, they would be punished by having just bread and water during a certain amount of time, and sitting at a smaller table. Apparently not having wine for every meal was a serious thing. The room was decorated with paintings of cities annexed by France (some are still French, such as Lille; some are not, such as Tournai). It was likely that some of the inmates would have taken part in those battles, thus it was also a way of recognising their work.

Tournai (‘Tournay’), today a Belgian city

In the same room, a hint of who eclipses the Sun King at Les Invalides:

A famous bicorn hat, that belonged to a famous person (find his initial on the golden cushion. no, it’s not a Z.)

The Church at Les Invalides is a military one, and this is why it keeps flags of the enemies of France across time. Some of them are displayed, while others were intentionally burned in the Nazi occupation. During the explanations by the guide, I noticed a flag I knew. And I remembered it: the province of Buenos Aires lost the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado in 1845, in the Paraná river, against a navy coalition of French and British ships. Given the concept I have of Juan Manuel Rosas, governor of Buenos Aires at the time, I thought it is a honour that the French keep that flag there.

Flags at the church inside the Les Invalides complex. The Argentine one, on the top left.

But Les Invalides is not known for being built by Louis XIV, nor because of the Argentine flag of the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado. It is known for hosting the remains of l’Empereur. After being defeated in Waterloo in 1815, Napoleon was sent to St Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic, almost 2,000 km from the coasts of Angola. Soon before dying, he wrote his will (do you want to see it? really? stay tuned!), in which he suggested he’d like to be buried at Les Invalides. You can see the grave from above, or walk down the steps and get closer. The body lays inside, covered by five layers of protection.

The grave from upstairs

In the corridor around the grave, there are Roman-style images of Napoleon, that look a bit grotesque (any coincidence with current leaders?), with quotes of him, such as the celebre one on the Napoleon Code, now the Civil Code. If on the one hand Napoleon modernised much of the State, often in a liberal perspective, at the same time he restricted women’s freedom, and applied censorship and a huge violence. Lights and shades of a complex historical figure.

The grave from closer

Something additional caught my attention inside the dome: this replica (a copy, rather) of the Cristo Redentore, a sculpture done by Michelangelo at just 23, currently at the Santa Maria sopra Minerva church, in Rome:

Sculpture copy of the Cristo Redentore

The original one, in Rome. Sorry I had to put it next to the other one. Have you been to Rome yet?

To visit Les Invalides: https://www.musee-armee.fr/votre-visite/horaires-et-tarifs.html

QUAI D’ORSAY The banks (‘quai’) of the Seine river have different names. One of them, Quai d’Orsay, hosts the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is then normally referred to as ‘Quai d’Orsay’. Although I didn’t have the chance to visit it, I enjoyed passing by and thinking of the French foreign policy across time.

Seat of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

CONCIERGERIE After the visit of Les Invalides, I walked to the Conciergerie, an old building that functioned as a prison during the French Revolution.

The main hall reminded me of other halls, in London.

The main hall at La Conciergerie

The word ‘conciergerie’ refers to a caretaker (‘caretaker’s lodge’, an impossible translation). When King Charles V left the palace, by the end of 1300s, the building became a prison under the control of a guardian — a concierge, where the name comes from. During the Revolution, especially in the Terror phase, thousands of people were jailed here. However, those arrested wouldn’t spend a long time in the premises — they would go to the Revolutionary Tribunal, that would either absolve them or send them to the guillotine. Not a lot of room for the middle ground, in those years.

Inmates could be rather unknown, or could be have been very powerful just few weeks ago, think of Maximilien de Robespierre or George Danton. But doubtlessly, the most celebre guest was Marie Antoinette.

The Queen was confined to a very small cell –that during the Restoration became a little chapel–, and was constantly observed by guards, therefore with no intimacy at all, before facing the Revolutionary Tribunal. In her trial, Marie Antoinette was accused of plotting against the Revolution (was there her Swedish lover involved? maybe you’ll find it below. who knows!), but should that not be enough, the Tribunal even accused her of having an incestuous relationship with her son. After spending two and a half months at the Conciergerie, her fate will meet her husband’s, in October 1793.

I took some time to think of her and pay a silent tribute to her memory, in the place where her cell had been.

Chapelle expiatoire

To visit the Conciergerie: https://www.paris-conciergerie.fr/visiter/informations-pratiques

REVOLUTION The places of the Revolution, most of them in Paris, are several. I keep this one: King Louis XV (father of the beheaded one) built a square and modestly called it ‘Place Louis XV’. The revolutionaries didn’t particularly fancy the name, and because it is the biggest square of the city, they chose it as site for public executions. Not satisfied with that, they renamed it as ‘Place de la Revolution’. And in order to lead by example, they beheaded King Louis XVI and later his wife, Marie Antoinette, in this place. And maybe the last great victim of the square was the architect of the Terror: Robespierre himself. All in all, almost 3,000 people were beheaded there.

Today, the square is called Place de la Concorde — a symbol of union among the French, and is located right in front of the Assemblée Nationale, on the other side of the river.

The sun over Place de la Concorde

NATIONAL ARCHIVES I also visited the permanent exposition of the National Archives of France. I don’t know you, but I find all this tremendously fascinating. Some of the documents I saw, in chronological order:

The Treaty of Marriage between François II (14 years old) and Mary, Queen of Scotland (or ‘Queen of Scots’, 16 years old), signed by them only below King Henry and Queen Catherine (or Caterina de’ Medici). Look at their pen traces!, 1558.

Treaty of Marriage between François II and Mary Queen of Scotland

Above, we have spoken about Voltaire and his Treaty of Tolerance: the book starts with a defence of Jean Calas, a protestant businessman strangled, burned and killed for supposedly having killed one of his sons, that wanted to convert to Catholicism. Voltaire believed in Calas’ innocence, and he also wrote it on this letter to the Count of Saint-Florentin, Royal Secretary of State, 1762.

The copy of a letter of Queen Marie-Antoinette to (her friend? lover?) Hans Axel von Fersen, a Swedish general. The letter is encrypted with a complex system, and their mail was sent through trusted people that would hide it in clothes or hats. Von Fersen had planned the failed flight of the royal family in 1791, and is said to have been plotting another escape. The tone of the letters between both seems to be more than friendly, 1791.

A letter by Napoleon, back then General in Chief of the Army of Italy, to Josephine, that finishes with ‘I kiss you everywhere everywhere’, 1796.

‘Je t’embrasse partout partout’, Napoléon to Joséphine

Another manuscript by Napoleon, although a bit less passionate: his will, in which he wishes ‘that my ashes rest on the shores of the Seine river, close to the French people that I loved so much’, 1821.

The Constitution of the Fifth Republic, with the signatures of President René Coty and Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle, 1958.

MONTMARTRE Always so beautiful, with its stairs, its countryside vibe, its elegant panoramas, Montmartre’s name has a Christian inspiration. It means ‘mount of the martyr’, because in this hill, bishop Denis of Lutetia (nowadays Paris) was beheaded due to his creed. And the legend says that, after beheaded, he walked miles northwards, with his head in his hands, to the place where today the church of St Denis stands, in the outskirts of the city.

Stairs of Montmartre

Commune In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war ended when France lost ignominiously against Otto von Bismarck’s army, with the last battle fought close to the town of Sedan. When Prussia penetrated France, many cities organised ‘communes’, basically insurrections, that were suffocated.

But Paris did not surrender. The city resisted heroically, and in 1871 the self-government became known as the Commune de Paris. The Commune approved very progressive legislation (free education, equal salary for men and women, cooperatives for abandoned factories, 10-hour workday, end of support for religion, end of night work for bakers). Paris was soon disarmed and besieged. Nevertheless, Parisians kept on fighting. Given the food shortage, they even ate all the animals in the city zoo. Little by little, the city surrendered. Given its location on top of a hill, the last part to resist was Montmartre, which eventually fell.

Soon after, the Church and the State agreed on the construction of a church, Sacré-Cœur, in the heart of Montmartre, on the hill where St Denis had been martyrised. This meant a humiliation for the ‘communards’. Indeed, people from Montmartre are not particularly fond of this church.

The defence of Montmartre in the place where the Sacré Cœur currently is located (1871).

I was looking for a museum of the Commune or something alike. But apparently no such thing exists, at least not in the 18th. À M Lejoindre, Maire du 18me : voici une idée géniale pour Montmartre !

A hidden standard in a closed part of the Musée de Montmartre. All I could find.

Montmartre Museum In any case, I visited the Musée de Montmartre, that describes the bohème life of the Belle Époque, especially focused on the life of Suzanne Valadon, a brilliant painter, first woman to be admitted to the National Society of Fine Arts, and the cabarets like the Chat Noir (you have seen the affiches by Toulouse-Lautrec, even if you don’t know they were those).

Original studio of Marie-Clémentine “Suzanne” Valadon, Musée de Montmartre

Reconstruction of the famous cabaret Le Chat Noir (not more than 30 people capacity)

The Museum has also this secret garden and the Café Renoir, ideal to enjoy a reading or a chat in a sunny afternoon.

Enjoying myself at the Café Renoir, in the Musée de Montmartre

Check the Musée de Montmartre: https://museedemontmartre.fr/

Clos-Montmartre wine As we said, Montmartre has a countryside vibe, which is also noticeable due to this little urban vineyard. The area has been producing wine since the Roman times. Today, the production of the Clos-Montmartre, a proper DOC, is of around 1,500 bottles per year, mainly gamay and pinot noir grapes, and the sales go to financing social initiatives of the district. I should taste it. Next time.

Montmartre vineyard

STATUES OF THE CITY There are many, all around. I selected five, for you: our good Voltaire, smiling in a green corner, always with a book in his hands. It seems that he’s stroking a cat. I learned that the statue had been repeatedly vandalised, but now it is in its original place, nice and clean.

Statue of Voltaire

President General Charles de Gaulle, in an open attitude with his hands facing up, and gently moving forward. De Gaulle, exiled in London during the Second World War, would later prevent the UK from joining the European Coal and Steel Community. I am sure he was a thankful person, but maybe not because of this.

Statue of General De Gaulle

Thomas Jefferson, US President who had been Ambassador in Paris between 1785–1789, and resided in a stately building on Champs Elysées street (although I admire some current diplomats, especially French, if we think of Jefferson, Tocqueville — what a level these people had, back then). Jefferson’s statue doesn’t seem to care about the tourists walking on the Passarelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, behind.

Statue of Thomas Jefferson

Old Winston. This statue was inaugurated with the presence of Queen Elisabeth II.

‘We shall never surrender.’ Statue of Winston Churchill

Statue of Liberty, bronze model of that Statue of Liberty, located in the Luxembourg Gardens. Yes, it is not as big as the other one.

Statue of Liberty, model

RESILIENCE In this moment of disposable thoughts, where things last what an Instagram story, in this moment in which many think that friendship is something you send, accept or deny with a click, there is a story I’d like to finish this post with.

In 2019, a massive fire destroyed the roof and ceiling of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, a medieval church in central Paris (very close to the Conciergerie we visited, above). The Catholic community but in reality all of France worked together, with aid from all around the world, to reconstruct it. And they succeeded.

Today, Notre Dame is shining more than ever, and even if the infinite queues prevented me from visiting it this time, I, a secular Jew, am truly glad to see it like this. I keep this message of resilience and of working together for a long term future.

A very long queue at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame

Thank you for reading.