Architecture · Books · Paris

Victor Hugo describes the decaying elephant monument at the Place de la Bastille in “Les Misérables”

Foreigners rarely inspected this structure, and passers-by did not look at it at all. The Elephant was crumbling with every year; fallen chunks of plaster left hideous sores on its flanks. The "aediles", as the elegant argot of the salons puts it, had forgotten it since 1814.

NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Paris

A Monument to Napoleon's Military Genius in the Fountain on the Place de la Bastille

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Museums · Society · Paris

A Baroque bust of Peter I by Rastrelli the Elder is on show at Versailles, at the exhibition opened by Putin and Macron to mark the monarch's sojourn in France

Monarchies · Heritage · Paris · People

The head of Henry IV, separated from his body when the Abbey of Saint-Denis was looted

Since we are on the subject of lost skulls, another set of aristocratic remains was left without its head. Henry IV (1553-1610), whom I mentioned the other day (https://theparnassian.com/schitaetsia-chto-vo-vremia-sozdaniia-kartiny-favoritka-genrikha-iv-byla-beremenna-pervym-ego-synom-kotorogo-nazovut-sezarom-v-

Front page of L'Humanité with a large headline about mourning of all peoples and a black and white portrait of Stalin.

NB! · Archive · In the Press · Society · Paris · Humour

Communist daily L'Humanité on mourning for Stalin on the day of his death

The daily Communist newspaper L'Humanité mourns Stalin on the day of his death: MOURNING FOR ALL MANKIND, boundless love for the GREAT STALIN. Though it would, of course, be better to change DEUIL to DEVIL.

Aristocracy · Art · Monarchies · Museums · Mores · Paris · People

Gabrielle d'Estrées, favourite of Henry IV, her family and her death in 1599

It is believed that at the time the painting was made, the favourite of Henry IV was pregnant with his first son, who would be named César after Julius Caesar. The pregnancy may be hinted at by the woman in the background sewing children's clothes, and by the

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Museums · Mores · Paris

Portrait of Gabrielle d'Estrées, Mistress of Henry IV, with One of Her Sisters (the Duchesse de Villars or Madame de Balagny), Pinching Her Nipple

NB! · Monarchies · Mores · Paris

The Imperial Toilette of the Second Empire

Three wooden beehives stand on the roof of Notre-Dame, with three jars of honey of different sizes on the paving in front of them.

NB! · Faith · Observations · Paris · Nature

Beehives have stood on the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris since 2013

Since 2013, bees have been kept on the roof of Notre-Dame. It is an initiative of city activists, endorsed by the cathedral because it shows the beauty of the created world. And I am still afraid to go to church with my own candles

NB! · Faith · Cinema · Observations · Paris

The relics of Vincent are kept in his chapel in Paris

The relics of Vincent are kept in his chapel in Paris. Its railings look like a set for another film about the Church, one I like far more than the two mentioned earlier: "Sister Act" with Whoopi Goldberg

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Mores · Paris

Found on Google Street View the Deer Park I wrote about yesterday

Found on Google Street View the Deer Park I wrote about yesterday. It is hard to imagine that in the eighteenth century this place was such a den of iniquity. A couple of years ago the building was on sale for 6.5 million euros

NB! · Architecture · Paris

One of the Loveliest Pavilions Stands in the Very Heart of Paris

One of the loveliest pavilions stands in the very heart of Paris. The avenue of Nicholas II was renamed Alexander III, and in 1966 Winston Churchill