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PARIS. 



PARIS. 



Trone (both circular), and the Place-Royale. These places are adorned 

 with columns, statues, fountains, or other decorations. In the Place- 

 des-Victoires is a statue of Louis XIV. In the Place Louvois, oppo- 

 site the great library, in the Hue-Richelieu, is a splendid fountain, erected 

 on the spot where the Due de Berry was assassinated in 1820. The 

 Place-du-Carrousel, to the east of the Tuileries, hardly any lunger exists, 

 having become absorbed in the great square inclosed by the Palace of 

 the Tuileries and the Louvre, as will be explained below. There are 

 numerous fine public walks, as the gardens of the Tuileries, the 

 gardens of the Luxembourg-, the Palaia-Royal, the Champs-Elyse'es, 

 the Avenue-de-Neuilly, and the numerous avenues in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Ecole Militaire and the Invalides, which are streets lined 

 with alleys of trees, like the boulevards. The Champ-de-Mars is a 

 very large inclosure, attached to the Ecole Militaire, and used for 

 reviews ; the Eaplanade-des-Invalides is a garden, or pleasure-ground, 

 extending from the Hotel-des-Invalides to the Seine. To the west 

 of the city outside the great bastioned wall is the Bois-de-Boulogno, 

 which is laid out in magnificent drives and embellished with fine 

 sheets of water, fountains, and jets-d'eau. 



The Place-de-la-Concorde, an octagonal space, lies at the intersec- 

 tion of two magnificent perspectives, one between the church de-la- 

 Madeleine and the Chamber of Deputies, the other between the 

 Tnileries gardens and palace on the east, and the triumphal arch de- 

 1'Etoile on the west at the head of the Champs-Elyse'es. It is 

 splendidly paved, lighted, and decorated ; allegorical figures of the 

 principal provincial towns of France surmount the eight pavilions of 

 the octagon. In the centre stands the obelisk of Luxor, which occu- 

 pies the site of the guillotine in the first revolution, under which 

 Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday, Robespierre himself, 

 and many others, illustrious and ignoble, fell during that bloody con- 

 vulsion. A little west of the Place-de-la-Concorde the Avenue-de- 

 Marigny leads past the Elye"e palace, the front of which is in the 

 Rue-du-FaubourK-St.-Honore'. 



There is perhaps no city in the world which has such a number of 

 handsome public buildings as Paris. A few of the principal struc- 

 tures are here briefly mentioned ; to describe all would require not an 

 article but volumes. The cathedral of Notre-Dame, crowned by its 

 two gigantic towers, is considered one of the boldest and most success- 

 ful existing specimens of gothic architecture. It was commenced 

 A.D. 1010 and not completed till 1260. The extreme length externally 

 is 442 feet ; breadth 162 feet ; breadth of nave 42 feet, length to 

 transept 186 feet, transept 155 feet, width of front 134 feet, and 

 height of towers 235 feet. The plan is divided into a nave ami four 

 aisles, besides a range of chapels on each side between the external 

 buttresses. The whole building has been recently cleaned and reno- 

 vated. Notre-Dame stands in the most ancient part of Paris, in the 

 Ile-de-la-Citc". The archbishop's palace, which stood on the south side 

 of the cathedral, was destroyed at the revolution of 1830. On the 

 Isle are also the Uotel-Dieu, one of the best regulated hospitals in the 

 world, making up 1000 beds; the vast Palaia-de-Justice, which with its 

 beautiful Sainte-Chapelle (built in 1238), has been recently thoroughly 

 restored ; the Place-Dauphine, a triangular space, iii which is a 

 fountain surmounted by a bust of Desaix, the hero of Marengo ; and 

 the prefecture of police. In the Palais-de-Justico all the law courts 

 are united except the tribunal of commerce. The Conciergerie, dis- 

 tinguished by its two lofty towers, on the Quai-de-1'Horloge, is also 

 in the tle-de la-Cit<J : in the western of these towers Marie Antoinette 

 was imprisoned. 



The former Pantheon, one of the finest building* in Paris, has been 

 again restored to ecclesiastical uses by the present emperor and to its 

 old title of the church of Sainte-Oenevieve. It is a beautiful edifice 

 with good general proportions and much grace and elegance in the 

 outline. The exterior presents a design marked by grandeur and 

 simplicity. A single large order, whose columns are 60 feet high, 

 forms a Corinthian hexastyle crowned by a pediment filled with 

 sculpture; there are however 12 other columns, besides 4 attached 

 ones. The entablature is continued along the whole building, of 

 which it constitutes almost the sole decoration, there being no windows, 

 as the interior is lighted by the dome, and by large semicircular 

 windows above the internal colonnade*, which are not visible exter- 

 nally. The lower part of the dome is encircled by a Corinthian 

 peristyle of 32 columns 36 feet high, on an unbroken podium, or 

 stylobate. The dome is entirely constructed of stone 67 feet in 

 diameter and 190 feet above the ground. The interior is a Greek 

 cross in plan, the length from east to west being 295 feet, that of the 

 transept 262 feet, and the breadth uniform, namely 104 feet Instead 

 of pier-arches, the aisles are formed by insulated Corinthian 

 columns 40 feet high, thereby producing an air of great richness and 

 lightness. The total length of the church, including the portico, is 

 352 feet. In close proximity to the church of Sainte-Genevi&ve, are 

 the Ecole-de-Droit, the fine church of SU-Etienne-du-Mont, the poly- 

 technic school, the college Henri IV., and the college Louis-le-Grand, 

 separated by the Rue-St.-Jacques from the Sorbonne. 



The facade of the church of the Invalides consists of two small 

 orders, above which rises a composite order of forty columns, sur- 

 mounted by a balustrade and attic, behind which swells a magnificent 

 dome, crowned with a lantern and spire. The dome is raised on the 

 centre of a Greek cross on an octagonal base. It is double ; the inner 

 0*00. BIT. VOL. IT. 



dome, constructed with masonry, is spherical ; the outer, with stoue 

 and brick, is spheroidal. Its diameter is 80 feet, and its height above 

 the ground 173 feet. The entire elevation to the top of the cross is 

 342 feet. The dome of the luvalides forma a magnificent feature in 

 some of the perspectives of Paris. Under the dome the magnificent 

 tomb of Napoleon I., the noblest work of Visconti, is erected. This 

 tomb and the grand altar, by the same architect, are among the finest 

 specimens of architecture in Paris. To the west of the Invalides is the 

 Ecole Militaire, now converted into barracks; in front of which is the 

 Champ-de-Mars, a vast parallelogram, 950 yards long and 456 yards 

 wide, surrounded by a fosse, masonry, and terrace?. Races are held 

 here annually, and the troops are reviewed in the Champ-de-Mars. The 

 beautiful bridge of Jena crosses the Seine at the north-west end of 

 the Champ-de-Mara, leading to the Aveuue-de-Longchamps outside 

 the barrier. On the southern side of the Avenue-de-Saxe, which leads 

 from the Place-de-Fontenoy (opposite the southern entrance of the 

 Ecole Militaire) to the great avenue south of the Invalides, are the 

 abattoir and artesian well of Grenelle. 



The church de-la-Madeleine is in exterior form a Corinthian periptcr.il 

 temple, upon a noble scale. On the pediment is a magnificent bas-relief 

 containing nineteen figures, representing Christ granting pardon to 

 Mary Magdalene, surrounded by emblematic figures. The dimensions 

 are 328 feet by 138 feet, independently of the projection of the flights of 

 steps at each end, which make the total length of the base or sub- 

 structure 418 feet; the stylobate, en which the columns are raised, is 

 about 13 feet high; the height of the columns 62 feet; that of the 

 entablature nearly 14 feet, and the entire height from the ground to 

 the apex of the pediment 116 feet. There are iu all 52 columns; 

 eight at each end, and twenty along each side, those at the angles 

 being reckoned again. The door of the south or principal entrance 

 is 32 feet high by 16 feet wide, and is of bronze, with ten panels 

 sculptured in relief, with subjects illustrative of the Ten Command- 

 ments. The interior, which is a simple nave, with three chapels on 

 each side and a high altar at the apse end, measures 259 feet by 52 feet, 

 and consists of three compartments, covered by as many flat domes, 

 through which the building is lighted, there being no side windows. 

 It is adorned with a small Ionic order, which also extends round 

 the apse. The whota of the interior is decorated with white marble 

 and gold. The roof is entirely of iron and copper, and no timber 

 has been used in tho construction of any part of the building. The 

 vault is covered with magnificent paintings. 



The Louvre, which has long ceased to be a royal habitation, though 

 one of the noblest palatial structures in Europe, is nearly a square, of 

 576 feet by 538 feet, inclosing a court 394 feet square. The celebrated 

 east front, or colonnade, is in a style of simple grandeur almost unpre- 

 cedented. The great painting gallery extends from the Louvre to the 

 Tuileries, in a line of more than 1456 feet. The interior of the 

 Louvre is splendidly decorated. The walls of the long gallery are lined 

 throughout with paintings of the French, Flemish, German, and Italian 

 schools. In other parts) of the structure are splendid collections of 

 Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Assyrian antiquities ; an unrivalled 

 collection of paintings of the Spanish school ; a museum, containing 

 models of everything relating to the marine, arsenals, forts, forges. 

 vessels, &<x, and a vast collection of royal armour and various articles 

 belonging to or used by sovereigns of France from Childeric to 

 Louis Philippe. The Louvre now forms one building with the 

 Tuileries, as will be noticed in the sequel when speaking of tho 

 improvements made in Paris by Napoleon III. Opposite the colonnade 

 of the Louvre is the church of St,-Germain-rAuxerrois, originally 

 founded by Childeric about A.D. 580. A little farther along the quay 

 is the Place-de-Chatelet, in which the great Chatelet, built in 855, 

 stood till 1802. In the centre of it is a fountain surmounted by a 

 column 52 feet iu height, and crowned with a gilt statue of Victory. 

 The shaft of the column is encircled with bands, on which are inscribed 

 the principal victories of Napoleon I. 



The Luxembourg Palace, now the Chamber of Peers, was erected 

 by Mary de' Medici, and is a good specimen of the Florentine style, 

 where three orders are introduced with rusticated columns and pilas- 

 ters. It consists of a centre and two wings, which latter are connected 

 by a screen of arcades, in continuation of the lower order, decorated 

 in the centre with a lofty pavilion or vestibule, in three orders, and 

 covered by a dome. One of the most splendid features of the interior 

 is the grand staircase leading to the hall of the Peers, a magnificent 

 apartment, 80 feet in diameter, lighted from the roof and decorated 

 with Corinthian columns and frescoes. The gardens are beautifully 

 laid out and planted. The grand avenue is of great length and leads to 

 the Observatory. Marshal Ney was shot in this avenue Dec. 7, 1815 : 

 on Dec. 7, 1854, a colossal bronze statue of the Marshal was erected 

 on the spot. Not far from the Observatory are the Foundling Hospital 

 and Orphan Asylum, established by St. Vincent de Paul in 1638 ; the 

 cemetery of Mont Parnasse ; and in the Rue-St. -Jacques the hospital 

 of Notre-Dame-de-Val-de-Grace and its beautiful church, founded by 

 Louis XIV. in 1645. Opposite the north-east angle of the Palace-de- 

 Luxembourg is the Odeon theatre, the only theatre ou the south side 

 of the river. The Luxembourg contains a vast deal of fine statuary 

 and a painting gallery. The grounds, like the gardens of the Tuileries 

 and other places of public resort in Paris, are embellished with statues. 



To the north of the Luxembourg gardens i3 the church and seint- 



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