Places, museums, monuments : 8
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Place, museum or monumentPère Lachaise CemeteryAs a result of the law of 23rd Prairial (21st June) year XII (1804)prohibiting burial in churches, convents and cemeteries within thecity walls, Nicolas Frochot, who had been prefect of the Seine since 1800, decided to create four Parisian necropolises situatedoutside the walls and at the four points of the compass. Onlythree of the necropolises […]
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Place, museum or monumentThe Route NapoléonOn 1 March 1815, on his return from Elba, Napoleon landed in Golfe-Juan with a small band of 1100 loyal soldiers. And from here he set out on the extraordinary adventure that was to lead to the return to power two and a half weeks later, 20 March, with his triumphal entry into the Tuileries […]
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Place, museum or monumentRue Rivoli, ParisThe idea of driving a triumphal route through Paris from east to west emerged during the Ancien Regime, but it was never to be realised. Indeed the need for a main channel of communication between the place de la Concorde and the Louvre was bitterly felt during the revolutionary revolts around the Tuileries – and […]
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Place, museum or monumentPlombières-les-Bains -
Place, museum or monumentCompiègne Forest
'The forest gave birth to hunting, and hunting – the passion of the kings of France – gave birth to the palace of Compiègne'. Such were the words of Philippe Marini, the senator/mayor of Compiègne, in describing the influence of this forest. The third largest French national forest after those near Orléans and Fontainebleau, Compiègne […]
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Place, museum or monumentBaltard PavilionIn the town of Nogent-sur-Marne stand the last remains of the Grandes Halles de Paris, Paris's great covered market known as Les Halles and built during the Second Empire. Only as a result of the town's obstinacy was this pavilion the only one to escape demolition in 1970. The Baltard Pavilion (Pavilion number 8) for […]
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Place, museum or monument / IIe République – 2nd Empire/2nd Republic-2nd EmpireVichyAfter Plombières, Vichy was the other great spa in fashion under the Second Empire. Already in 1799, Laetitia Bonaparte, in the company of her son, Louis, took the waters of this spa which was known since Gallo-Roman antiquity. During the First Empire, the “Parc des Sources” (Park of Springs) was layed out on the personal […]
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Place, museum or monumentGreat Saint Bernard PassThe crossing of the Great Saint Bernard Pass remains an epic moment in the course of Napoleonic history. Indeed, although whilst many of the Swiss passes were crossed by French, Russian and Austrian armies, only the crossing of the Great Saint Bernard is ever remembered. From one cunning commission given to the painter David, the […]