Tuesday, 1/6/09

The facade of Notre Dame:

The morning of our first full day in Paris was an exploration of the historic heart of the city – Île de la Cité.  Despite the icy cobblestone paths and unusually cold weather, we followed our guide, Vincent, to such notable sites as the Palais de la Cité, the Palais de Justice, Sainte Chapelle, and Notre Dame.  The overarching theme was that many French monarchs, as well as the governments of the Republic, changed the architecture and function of different sites to demonstrate their power. For example, the Palais de la Cité was originally a small fortified building with torture chambers, but it expanded over time, and is now dominated by the huge Palais de Justice. As we explored the Palais de Justice, we were lucky enough to be able to sneak into the hall for the Cour de Cassation– France’s highest court – which I found surprisingly ornate for a court of law.

A statue of Henri IV on Pont Neuf, and the Cour de Cassation:

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go into Sainte Chapelle because it was closed, but we did visit Notre Dame and admire its impressive façade.  There is currently a large plaza and wide avenues surrounding the church, but apparently when Notre Dame was originally constructed, it was tightly surrounded by buildings and narrow streets.  People at the time thought the interior of the church was the only notable part and didn’t mind a blocked view.  But judging by the number of pictures we took of different views of the church, I think we all appreciated that architectural tastes have changed to enable a full view!  I thought the sculptures and reliefs on the façade were almost like cartoons – the features and expressions were all exaggerated. When Vincent pointed out how few people could read at the time of Notre Dame’s construction, however, we realized that the cartoon-like features actually helped people remember the biblical stories that they couldn’t read. 

The vaults of the church, and a view from further away:

I thought Île de la Cité was an excellent way to kick off our exploration of Paris because it perfectly illustrated the theme of our trip – Tradition and Modernity. Each building and street in the city has a layer for every period in Paris’ history. The layering of time was particularly striking given that we came to Paris from Boston, one of America’s most historic cities. In Boston, the oldest buildings date to the 1700s.  But in Paris during the 1700s, buildings and neighborhoods were already being “modernized” and expanded.

E.L