Grands Boulevards (3)

Time for the last part of the Grand Boulevards, including the Boulevards des Italiens, des Capucines and de la Madeleine. (See maps on previous posts.)

This boulevard changed name several times, but the present name comes from the “Opéra Italienne”, now called the “Opéra Comique”, a theatre created at the end of the 18th century and mostly used for lighter type of operas, operettas… From the boulevard you only see the back side of this theatre.

In the upper part of Boulevard des Italiens you find some bank buildings, including the headquarters of Crédit Lyonnais (LCL). The building, enormous when it was built at the end of the 19th century, was seriously damaged by fire in 1996, but restored. Among other things you can admire the clock on the façade.Another building here, today also occupied by a bank, called Maison Dorée (the Golden Building) housed during the second half of the 18th century the most exclusive and expensive Paris restaurant, visited by kings and all kinds of prominent personalities. Here was also held the last impressionist exposition in 1886 (for the first one see further down) and the first “art nouveau” exhibition in 1895.

At the end of Boulevard des Italiens and the beginning of Boulevard des Capucines, you will find a concentration of cinemas and restaurants, including one of the typical Paris brassieres which remain open all year, 7/7, 24/24, Le Grand Café des Capucines, opened in 1875. Do you feel for some nice oysters at 5 p.m. or 5 a.m.?To continue on Boulevard des Capucines we will first cross the Place de L’Opéra with a view of Opéra Garnier to the right and Rue de la Paix and Place Vendôme to the left. We will find the Grand Hôtel with Café de la Paix.Further down Boulevard Boulevard Capucines, at no. 14, downstairs, in 1895, the Lumière brothers made their first paying audience to what can be considered as the debut of the cinema and shortly later Roentgen demonstrated his invention of X-rays.

At no. 35, in 1874, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Cézanne, Morisot, Degas, Monet… organised their own exhibition with few visitors. The Monet painting “Impressions…” gave the name to the movement “Impressionism”.

Close to here you have also the oldest, still existing, and most famous music hall in Paris, Olympia, opened in 1889 by a Mr. Oller, who also created Moulin Rouge. Among the performers here: Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Gilbert Bécaud, Amalia Rodrigues, Céline Dion, Judy Garland, Led Zeppelin, Petula Clark, Luciano Pavarotti, Dionne Warwick, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Jackson 5…

We have now reached the end of the Grands Boulevards and, after a short walk on Boulevard de la Madeleine, we will find the Madeleine Church with a view of Rue Royale and Place de la Concorde.

The impressionists made several paintings around the boulevards. Here you can see a Renoir from Boulevard des Italiens and a Monet from Boulevard des Capucines.

Happy walk during the weekend! See you Monday!

As usual, you will find some of these pictures on my photo blog.

Grands Boulevards (2)

Let’s continue the walk along the Grands Boulevards, this time from Place de la République about half way to the end point, the Madeleine Church. We will follow the boulevards St. Martin, St. Denis, Bonne Nouvelle, Poissonière and Montmartre. (You can find maps on the previous posts.)

First I would like to show some normal street views, day and night. We are now approaching the part of the boulevards that still today offer some real nightlife with theatres, cinemas, restaurants…A few facades were there already when the boulevards were opened after 1670.There are a number of theatres along these boulevards, most of them from the 19th century. Sarah Bernhardt played and directed as well at Théatre de la Renaissance as at Théatre de la Porte Saint Martin (the middle top photo), where also Edmond Rostand presented the Cyrano de Bergerac. At the as a historic monument classified Théatre des Variétés (the photo to the right) a number of Offenbach’s comic operas were performed for the first time.I have already referred to the perhaps most famous Paris - and Europe’s biggest - cinema, Rex, inaugurated in 1932 as some kind of “Radio City Hall”. The main theatre can house some 2800 people and is not only used for films, but often for concerts.Along our walk we will also see two Arches of Triumph, Saint Martin and Saint Denis, both built under the reign and to the glory of Louis XIV. They were then on the border of Paris, on the way you then entered Paris from the north via rue Saint Denis (see post January 3) or rue Saint Martin. There are some nice and typical Paris streets to the right and to the left of the boulevards…… and you can also find some interesting pedestrian passageways:

Passage Prado, opened already in 1785, but covered only in 1925. Today it houses a number of Indian, Pakistani and Afro type of shops, hairdressing salons, a hotel… Passage Jouffroy, neighbour to our Mme Tussauds (Musée Grévin), created in 1847, with more fashionable shops, hotels…Passage des Panoramas, the most elegant of the three, in its present shape there since 1834 with some very old shops, restaurants…and neighbour to Théatre des Variétés, meaning that it was especially in fashion during the glorious Offenbach years (see above).Pissarro made a number of paintings from a hotel room at Boulevard Montmartre.

One small curiosity: When I looked closer on the photo of the street sign of Boulevard St. Martin, I noted a number of bullet impacts, obviously quite fresh, not yet rusty!

And tomorrow we make the last part of the Grands Boulevards.

Some of the above pictures can be found on my photo blog.

On the way from Montmartre...

From the area situated between Montmartre and the more central parts of Paris I have made a few posts about things that I believe are worth visiting – but there is more to see. This area goes under the name of “Nouvelle Athènes” (points 1-7 on the map and on the list at the end).

If and when you have visited some of these places I could suggest that you continue on Rue du Faubourg Montmartre (in red on the map). This was the street people used to take on their more ore less direct way home after a long evening in Montmartre; direction the “Halles”, for a nice onion soup in the early morning. The “Halles” used to be the centre for all fresh food distribution in Paris, but were torn down during the sixties; the activities were displaced to the suburbs and instead something modern was constructed with shops, cinemas etc. (already to be remodelled).

You could then possibly make a break on the way at the candy shop on which I also made a post (p.8) or in the very different church, Sainte Eugène-Sainte Cécile (p.9), also one of my posts. Then you have the choice to have a meal or to go to the cinema, possibly both.

The Restaurant Chartier (p. 10) has been here since 1896. It’s actually what was called a “buillon”, which means soup or a “soup place” in French. This name was used for restaurants supposed to serve some cheap but good food to people who could not afford the more expensive places. Chartier is today always full, the service is efficient but a bit rough, the “garçons” are old style, the food is correct but not excellent, very traditional dishes, the prices are still relatively low and the dining room has an old and nice charm. Somehow, it’s a place you must have tried.

The cinema Rex was inaugurated in 1932. Unlike most other cinemas today, Rex has still a big theatre, supposed to be the biggest remaining in Europe with almost 3000 seats, but has now also three smaller theatres. There used to be an organ and some dancing ladies, something like New York’s Radio City Hall with the Rockettes, but the dancing ladies are gone. During World War II, Rex became a “Soldaten-Kino”. The big theatre is today also often used for concerts (coming next: Celtic Legends, Harry Connick Jr, Hilary Duff, The Dubliners…).

From here your “guide” will leave you for the weekend! You can take the direction of the “Halles”, the “Opéra”… or just ask for a taxi to your hotel.

Hope to see you Monday in good shape! Nice weekend!


Here is the list, with links to the previous posts:
1. Cité Malesherbes
2. Avenue Frochot (same link as 1.)
3. Cité Monthiers (same link as 1.)
4. Museum of the Romantics
5. Gustave Moreau Museum
6. Square d’Orléans
7. Place Saint Georges
8. Candy Shop
9. Sainte Eugène – Sainte Cécile Church
10. Restaurant Chartier
11. Cinema Rex

Some more from “Nouvelle Athène”

I will - at least temporarily - leave the area of Paris called the New Athens (the Museum of the Romantics, the Square d’Orléans, the Gustave Moreau Museum, Place Saint Georges…) by showing some last photos.

Just south of Place Pigalle, in the crossing of the streets Victor Massé and Frochot, you will find one rather astonishing building with a large stained glass front window. It was built for the 19th century composer Victor Massé. It was taken over by the boss of Folies Bergère who donated it to a servant, later murdered here. It stood then empty for decades and still seems to be. For a short while one of our local singing stars, Sylvie Vartan, lived here, but for some reason she quickly left: it seems to be haunted place.

Correction 29/8, 2 pm: I now learnt that the stained glass window in front of the building actually is part of a small theatre (Théatre en Rond), which now is closed. Just close to this house, you can (not) enter a private street, called Avenue Frochot, where Toulouse-Lautrec and Renoir (the painting father and the film making son) lived or worked. It seems that some of our today’s celebrities have their address here, which I believe is the reason the guard at the entrance did not want to let me in. The street looks very nice from what you can see behind the entrance gate.

Just round the corner, you will find another private street, Cité Malesherbes, where the guard let me in. Here you can find some nice buildings, including the very beautifully decorated number 11 (top picture). The French Socialist Party occupied for a long time number 12. Today the building is used by a socialist foundation (Fondation Jean Jaurès). It seems that another of our local singing stars, Johnny Hallyday, for a while married to the above mentioned Sylvie Vartan, was born in this street.In another small side street (Cité Monthiers; you enter from rue de Clichy) you will find a small but beautiful theatre, Théatre de l’Oeuvre (there are many other theatres around). I took also some pictures here and there, including the statue (with a pigeon on the top) of Hector Berlioz. All the small side streets and backyards are not that fashionable, but they have often a lot of charm... and soon they will be transformed into something fashionable and expensive.

If you wish to see the original photos, please go to my other blog - "Peter - photos".

I have still serious network problems, so please excuse me if I'm not a good visitor of your blogs at the moment.

Place Saint Georges

The area of Paris where we have already visited the Museum of the Romantics, Square d’Orléans and the Gustave Moreau Museum is for some reason called Nouvelle Athène (New Athens). There are several more places to visit and I have not finished; it is in easy walking distance from where I live. As usual I present some Paris Google illustrations to make it possible for you to find your way to these places, if you have not already visited them. (Batignolles is the area where I live.)

Today I will show you Place Saint Georges. It’s a nice place created in the beginning of the 19th century. In the middle you have a statue of a painter called Gavarni. He should be surrounded by water, but there are some works ongoing. Originally this was a fountain allowing horses to get some refreshment.

Gavarni was known for painting courtesans and the most striking building on the place, which I have illustrated a bit more in detail (top picture and second slide below), was actually built for a courtesan. She obviously was successful, as she rather soon moved to something even more fashionable on the Champs Elysées, became marchioness... Today the building seems to be basically occupied by very expensive offices (and there is space to let).

The other building, today with some green public space behind, was destroyed during one of the French revolutions in 1871 (Paris Commune), but immediately rebuilt. It was previously occupied by Adolphe Thiers, who actually was elected President of the Republic the same year as his house was torn down. Today it's a library depending on the "Institute" (The French Academy).

You can find the original photos on my other blog - "Peter - photos".

(I have still network problems, but I was lucky for a moment and managed to make this post.)

Gustave Moreau Museum

Moving around in the same area where I have already presented the Museum of the Romantics and the Square d’Orléans, I also visited the Gustave Moreau museum (14, rue de la Rochefoucauld, Paris 9). This is an amazing small museum, which was actually more ore less created by the artist himself, preparing space for his works to be presented in his home. The museum was opened to public five years after his death.

Gustave Moreau (1826-98), was a symbolist painter and a precursor to other famous symbolist painters like Gustav Klimt and Eduard Munch. He is also considered to be a forerunner for later surrealistic painters (Dali, Magritte…). Henri Matisse was one of Moreau’s pupils. Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust, André Breton among others admired his works (and so do I).

In the museum you can find hundreds of paintings and if you look behind curtains (for light protection) you can also find thousands of drawings, pre studies, aquarelles… His paintings can be found at the Louvre (Paris), National Gallery (London), MMA (NYC)…, but the fact that he has his own museum is perhaps explaining that he may be considered to be underrepresented in many of the greatest museums.

What also is interesting to see at the Paris Moreau museum are the stairs between the two exhibition levels and, on the lower floor, his office, dining room, sleeping room… all preserved as they were.

Square d'Orléans

Walking around in Paris and having a look behind the street entrances you have sometimes some good surprises. Here is one. Behind 80, rue Taitbout, you will find a calm little area under the name of Square d’Orléans. It dates from the early 19th century.

In a previous post I talked about a small house, transformed into a “Museum of the Romantics” (also not obvious to find), where the painter Ary Scheffer received, among many others, his neighbours and good friends George Sand and Frédéric Chopin. This is where they lived in the 1840’s, more or less together, George at number 5 and Frédéric at number 9.

Some other famous people have lived or worked here, including Alexandre Dumas (père). Georges Bizet came here for his piano lessons. When George Sand left her apartment, Charles Beaudelaire moved in…

You can find the original pictures on my photo blog.

Doorways

The houses in the area I live, “les Batignolles” Paris 17th arrondissement, were to large extent built during the latter part of the 19th century. Few houses are older or younger.

I have in earlier posts talked about some famous painters, poets, composers who used to live here, but most of the original inhabitants belonged probably to those days’ ordinary middle-class.

Built more or less during the same period, the buildings are often very similar in style, but there are some minor decoration differences, including the doors and the doorways. I have already made a post on “doors” and here is one on “doorways”, or rather what you can find just on top of the actual doorways; a bit more of fantasy than today.

I found the “hands” that you can see on the top picture slightly outside my area (but still close) and this is what gave me the idea to more closely look for other decorations.

This is not a collection of the nicest ones in Paris; it’s just pictured as I walked along the streets close to where I live (and my house is included.) I would certainly find something much more decorative if I went to the most fashionable areas.

That flats were equipped with gas and electricity was something new and sometimes you can see small plates indicating that those commodities are available, like some of the older cafés advise that they have the telephone.