That afternoon we took a guided tour of French Revolution sites. We had the guide to ourselves and it was so cool to stand in the places where the history happened. Well, almost always. The Place de la Concorde, where so many were beheaded during the Terror, is a busy combination of high speed traffic and temporary Bastille Day scaffolding. Our guide was forced to motion to far off points and say "Louis was executed right under those bleachers and Marie about where that blue car is turning." I have started taking notes of the things I don't want to forget and the questions I still need to answer. Our guide told us that the doctor who performed the autopsy on the Dauphine removed his heart and kept it in a jar through the Revolution until it could later be safely brought to the St Denis Basilica, where the French kings have been laid to rest. It didn't occur to me until later that I had no idea what became of Louis XVI's remains. Turns out he was dumped by the Revolutionaries, then located during the Restoration and his remains also brought to St Denis.
The National Assembly and bridge constructed from the remains of the Bastille - Pont de la Concorde.
On Tuesday we went back to the Marais to visit the Musee Carnavalet, which houses a wide range of items relating to Paris's history, from Roman times to the present. Spread out through over 100 rooms of 16th century mansion is an amazing assortment of paintings, signs, keys with their locks, portraits, letters, magazines, furniture, models of seemingly every Paris bridge, you name it. I spent the longest time in the rooms of the Revolution, just amazed by the things that were held on to through all the chaos. They have the copy of the Declaration of the Rights of Man that hung in the National Assembly, Danton's spoon and fork with an oddly bent tine, Robespierre's satchel, and a medallion wrapped with a braid of Marie and the Dauphine's hair. They also have a pair of her shoes that would still be pretty fashionable, but are remarkably small. We had the fallafel for lunch and it was worth waiting in line for, but thankfully since it was a weekday we didn't have to.
Today we climbed the towers of Notre Dame, which I thought was more worth the wait and effort than the Eiffel Tower. The gargoyles and the detailing on everything, high and low, are awesome to take in. The cathedral itself was not my favorite of the many I have seen so far, but I loved to stand there and think of Napoleon having been on those same steps for his coronation. I had a teacher in high school who was in love with Hemingway and spent her summers on 'follow Hemmingway's foot steps' tours. I thought she was so weird then, but now I totally get it. 
From there we went to the Conciergerie, which is made up of the scant remnants of medieval castle that housed the kings before their move to more fashionable housing off the island. During the Revolution a newer portion served as the jail for Charlotte Corday, Marie Antoinette, Robespierre and so many others on their way to the guillotine.
At the Conciergerie: Fire place and spiral staircase that used to lead to a great dining hall. Female prisoners' courtyard.
By far my favorite part of the day was stepping into the upper chapel of the Sainte Chapelle. By the time we got there the rainy day had mostly cleared up and the sun lit up the stained glass. This chapel was built by Louis IX in the 13th century to serve as the reliquary for the crown of thorns, nail and piece of cross he had purchased and it is made up of more glass than stone. The effect is just stunning.
I have been disappointed that I have not so far had the opportunities I had hoped for to interview Parisians. In order to stay on a budget we haven't been out to too many restaurants and while we have done a lot of chatting in lines while waiting to get into attractions, the people near us in line just haven't been French. Our tour guide had some good suggestions for situations that might better lend themselves to getting interviews, which I will try soon, but today I did have an interesting conversation with a woman who worked at Sainte Chapelle. I didn't get it on film, but we were talking about the maintenance of the windows. One couldn't help but notice that one half was much, much cleaner than the others. She told me that they had just finished cleaning the south side and were about to begin the north, but it was a very large undertaking. It had taken five years to clean the half that were done and it was at a cost of 10 million euro. I asked her who paid for it, knowing that in 1905 the government took over control of then existing religious buildings. This is an issue now with religions, like Islam, who arrived and built after that date. The cost, she said, was in fact largely shouldered by the government wit some support from a private company. But she pointed out that this is not really a reflection of preference for Catholicism, as the building is and was not just religiously important. In fact, since the relics have been moved to Notre Dame and services are no longer offered there, today it's no longer a very religious site at all. She pointed out two sets of stained glass in which Louis IX had associated himself and the role of the king of France to the kings of the Bible and that the relics had made it possible for him to claim the right to rule with God's blessing, strengthening his power immensely. Even as a chapel it had been a political statement, important to France's secular history that is inextricably entwined with its religious history.
Tomorrow I'm still walking through the past with a trip to Versailles, but I am getting anxious to get interviews going. I'll keep you posted.
No comments:
Post a Comment