La fontaine Médicis

The Medici Fountain

The Medici Fountain is a monumental fountain in the Jardin du Luxembourg in the 6th arrondissement in Paris. It was built in about 1630 by Marie de' Medici, the widow of King Henry IV of France and regent of King Louis XIII of France. It was moved to its present location and extensively rebuilt in 1864-66.

The Italian Influence in Paris in the 17th century

The period between the regency of Catherine de' Medici in France (1559–1589) and that of Marie de' Medici (1610–1642) saw a great flourishing of the Italian mannerist style in France, A community of artists from Florence, including the sculptor Francesco Bordoni, who helped design the statue of King Henry IV of France built on the Pont Neuf, and fountain technician Thomas Francini, who had worked on fountains in the new gardens of the Medici villas in Florence and Rome, found eager royal patrons in France. Soon features of the Italian Renaissance garden, such as elaborate fountains and the grotto, a simulated cave decorated with sculpture, appeared in the first Gardens of the French Renaissance at Fontainebleau and other royal residences.

Construction of the Fountain

Marie de' Medici, as widow of Henry IV and mother and regent of King Louis XIII of France, began construction of her own palace, which she called the Palais des Medicis, between 1623 and 1630, on the left bank of Paris. The new palace was modeled after the Palazzo Pitti in her native Florence, and the gardens around the palace were modeled after those of the Boboli Gardens in Florence, and a grotto. The Palace was the work of architect Salomon de Brosse, but the grotto was most probably the work of Tommaso Francini, the Intendant General of Waters and Fountains of the King. Francini, who emigrated to France at the invitation of Henry IV in 1598 and was naturalized in 1600, had built grottos and fountains in the Italian style for the marquis de Gondi and for the royal chateau of Henry IV at Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

The first difficulty of construction was the lack of water in the Left Bank of Paris. Unlike the Right Bank, where the water table was near the surface, and there were many wells and two acqueducts which served the city, the water table on the Left Bank was deep underground and all water had to be carried from the Seine. As a result, the city had expanded far from the Right Bank of the Seine, but had hardly grown at all on the Left Bank. This problem was finally solved by the construction of the aqueduct of Arcueil, between 1613-1623.

19th Century Modifications of the Fountain

After the death of Marie de' Medici, the Palace and fountain went through a series of owners. By the middle of the 18th century, when the fountains of Versailles and the Garden à la française were in fashion, the Medici Fountain fell into disrepair. The two original statues at the top of the fountain, by the sculptor Pierre Biard, two nymphs pouring water from pitchers, had disappeared, and the wall of the Orangerie, against which the fountain was placed, was crumbling.

In 1811, at the instructions of Napoleon Bonaparte, the grotto was restored by the neoclassical architect Jean Chalgrin, the architect of the Arc de Triomphe, who replaced the simple water fountain in the niche of the grotto with two streams of water, and added a white marble statue representing Venus in her bath.

In 1864, during the Second French Empire, Baron Haussmann planned to build the avenue de Medicis through the space occupied by the fountain. The lateral arcades of the fountain and the crumbling old orangerie behind it had had already been torn down in 1855. From 1858 to 1864, The new architect, Alphonse de Gisors, moved the fountain thirty meters to make room for the boulevard, and radically changed its setting and appearance.

Since the fountain no longer stood against a wall, the Fontaine de Léda, displaced from another neighborhood, was placed directly behind it. He replaced the two original statues of nymphs at the top of the statue with two new statues, representing the Rivers Rhone and Seine. He restored the coat of arms of the Medici family over the fountain, which had been defaced during the Revolution. He inserted two statues into the niches, one representing a faun and the other a huntress, above which are two masks, one representing comedy and the other tragedy. He removed the simple basin and water spout which had been in the niche and replaced them with a long tree-shaded basin. Finally, he removed the statue of Venus and replaced her with a group of statues by Auguste Ottin, representing the giant Polyphemus, in bronze, discovering the lovers Acis and Galatea, in white marble. That is the fountain as it appears today.

The Hidden Fountain - the Fountain of Léda

The fountain which Gisors placed behind the Medici Fountain had a history of its own. The Fontaine de Léda had been constructed in 1806-1809, during the First Empire, at the corner of rue Vaugirard and rue du Regard. It was the work of architect François-Jean Bralle and sculptor Achille Valois. The bas-relief of the fountain depicts the story of Leda and the Swan; Leda holds the swan on her knees, and the figure of Amor is shooting an arrow at her from the corner of the sculpture. Water flowed from the beak of the swan down to a hemispherical basin at the foot of the fountain.

In 1856, when Baron Haussmann wanted to extend the rue de Rennes, the chief of the service of Promenades and Plantations of Paris, Gabriel Davioud, who designed most of the city's fountains, benches, gates and other urban architectural decorations during the Second Empire, and who was himself a sculptor, wanted to preserve the fountain, and in 1858 he had it moved to the Jardin du Luxembourg. Since it was a wall fountain, it had to be attached to something, so he placed it on the back of the Medici Fountain, where it still remains, unnoticed by passers-by.

See: Wikipedia

Sorbonne

Sorbonne

The College of Sorbonne was a theological college of the University of Paris, founded in 1253 by Robert de Sorbon, after whom it is named. With the rest of the Paris colleges, it was suppressed during the French Revolution. It was restored in 1808 but finally closed in 1882. The name Sorbonne eventually became synonymous with the Parisian Faculty of Theology. In more recent time, it came to be used in reference to the entire University of Paris. It is now the name of the main campus in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, which houses several universities (heirs to the former University of Paris) as well as the Paris rectorate.

The College was originally a graduate college. It was planned for graduates who had already acquired a degree of M.A. and were taking courses leading to the doctorate in theology. It quickly built a prestigious reputation as a center for learning. By the 13th century, there were as many as twenty thousand foreign students resident in the city, making Paris the capital of knowledge of the Western world. Today, foreign students still make up a significant part of its campus.

The Sorbonne became the most distinguished theological institution in France, and its doctors were frequently called upon to render opinions on important ecclesiastical and theological issues. In 1622–1626, Cardinal Richelieu renovated the Sorbonne; the present buildings date from this time, with later restorations dating from 1885. In his honour, the chapel of the Sorbonne was added in 1637. When Richelieu died in 1642, he was interred in a tomb in this chapel.

The faculty's close association with the Church resulted in its being closed down during the French Revolution, which had strong anti-clerical sentiment. Napoleon reopened it in 1808 to serve as part of the University of Paris. Between then and 1885, the Sorbonne served as the seat of the university's theology faculties and of the Académie de Paris. At the end of the 19th century, the Sorbonne became an entirely secular institution.

Foundation

Robert de Sorbon was a native of Le Réthelois, a distinguished professor and famous preacher who lived from 1201 till 1274. Sorbon found that there was a defect in the primitive organization of the University of Paris. The two principal mendicant orders—the Dominicans and the Franciscans—each had colleges at Paris where they delivered lectures which extern students could attend without fee.

Robert de Sorbon decided that the university should also provide free instruction, so that it could compete with the religious orders. Further, he believed the society of professors should follow the practices of the cenobitic life, except in vows. His important work was made possible by the high esteem in which de Sorbon was held at Paris, together with his intellectual brilliance, great generosity, and the assistance of his friends. The foundation dates from 1257 or the beginning of 1258. Guillaume de Saint-Amour, Gérard d'Abbeville, Henry of Ghent, Guillaume des Grez, Odo or Eudes of Douai, Chrétien de Beauvais, Gérard de Reims, Nicolas de Bar were among the most illustrious scholars connected either with the first chairs in the Sorbonne, or with the first association that constituted it. These savants were already attached to the university staff.

Organization

The constitution of the society as conceived by De Sorbon was simple: an administrator (provisor), associates (socii), and guests (hospites). The provisor was the head; nothing could be done without consulting him; he installed the members selected by the society, and confirmed the statutes drawn up by it; he had to provide for everything.

The associates formed the body of the society. To be admitted to it, the candidate was required to have taught a course of philosophy. There were two kinds of associates, the bursaires and the pensionnaires. The latter paid forty (Paris) pounds a year; the former were provided for by the house. The burse could be granted only to persons not having an income of forty (Paris) pounds. There was a primus inter pares, the prior, who presided over all internal affairs of the house.

Doctors and bachelors were alike eligible, but, owing to the number of the latter, the custom rapidly grew up of selecting only bachelors. Other persons were candidates for admission to the society rather than members of it. From the material and intellectual point of view, they enjoyed the same privileges as the members: board, lodging, books, spiritual and scholastic exercises but they had no votes. When they had fulfilled the condition of teaching philosophy, they were admissible as members. The course of studies lasted ten years, during which time their burses continued; but if, at the end of ten years, they had not given proof of their ability, either as teachers or as preachers, they had to give up their burse.

History

The ordinary lectures were public, and consequently were attended by students who belonged to neither of the divisions of the society. The doctors and bachelors were authorized to give shelter to other poor pupils. Besides the work of the classroom, there was the duty of preaching or labouring in the parishes. In preparation for this, the associates, on certain days, had to deliver sermons or conferences (collationes) to the community. The purely spiritual side was not forgotten. Conferences, usually delivered by the prior, on this important part of the Christian and priestly life were given especially to the interns.

For twenty years the ability of the administrator, or provisor, corresponded to the foreseeing devotedness of the founder. This stretch of time showed the effectiveness of the administrative measures which De Sorbon had adopted. He had written down the rules in thirty-eight articles. This rule was directed towards the maintenance of common life, from silence in the refectory, to simplicity of authorized dress. As circumstances permitted, about 1271 De Sorbon added a literary college: this was the Collège de Calvi or the "little Sorbonne".

The constitution which Robert de Sorbon gave to his college lasted for centuries. If Claude Héméré (1574–1650, librarian of the Sorbonne) saw in the project the conception of a powerful intellect, "Hoc primus in lycaeo Parisiensi vidit Robertus", its realization became a model college for others. The expression Pauvres maîtres et étudiants en théologie seems to emphasize the two primary characteristics of the society: equality in poverty, an equality so perfect between masters and pupils that it designated them by a common name; the poverty of the pupils, since most of them were bursaires; the poverty of the masters, since, content with what was strictly necessary, they renounced all other professional remuneration. This equality was always maintained with scrupulous care; the Sorbon repeated as an axiom, Omnes nos sumus socii et aequales, and referred to the college as pauperem nostram Sorbonem.

From the outset the college enjoyed the favour of the Holy See. Pope Alexander IV (1259) urged the French bishops to support it, Urban IV (1262) recommended it to the goodwill of the whole Christian world, and Clement IV (1268) granted it papal approbation. Wealthy benefactors provided it with ample endowment. A high standard of scholarship was maintained and the severity of the actus Sorbonnicus, or examination for degrees, including the defence of the "thesis Robertina", became proverbial. The professorial corps was highly respected. From all parts of Europe, theological and political questions were sent to it for solution.

In 1470 the Sorbonne introduced the art of printing into France by calling to Paris three of Gutenberg's associates, Gering, Friburger, and Crantz. Among its principal patrons and benefactors was Cardinal Richelieu, who held for a time the office of provisor and who, in 1635, laid the cornerstone of an edifice to be built at his expense for the use of the college. He was buried in the church of the Sorbonne, where his tomb is still preserved.

The doctors of the college were loyal defenders of the Catholic faith against the inroads of Protestantism and the Enlightenment. As other teachers of theology in the university became members of the Sorbonne, by the beginning of the sixteenth century, its staff was practically identical with the university faculty. De Sorbon had created a library. It expanded rapidly, due to numerous gifts.

On the other hand the professors gave their support to Gallicanism and obliged their members to subscribe to the "four articles". This attitude naturally weakened the prestige of the Sorbonne as a theological school. Ecclesiastical students had to seek their education in the seminaries. The Sorbonne itself was suppressed by decree of 5 April 1792, after the French Revolution.

Napoleon restored it in 1808 as the theological faculty of the newly organized university. It did not, however, regain its former standing or influence, though it continued in existence until 1882, when it was finally suppressed. In 1884 the construction of the present building was begun and it was completed in 1889. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was occupied by the various departments of letters and science which formed the École des Hautes Etudes.

See: Wikipedia

La Femme aux pommes

Jean Terzieff (1894-1978)

Russian-born sculptor Jean Terzieff arrived in Paris in 1919 after studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Bucharest. In the early 20s, he became a pupil of Bouchard and Bourdelle. He attended Despiau and Wlérick installed on Paris for several years. Influenced by the Greek tradition, he often works in stone and marble. It is part of the aesthetics of the "Independents" who will flourish with the Universal Exhibition of 1937. He also participated in various Parisian salons where he affirms its commitment to the representation of female nudes.

Jean Terzieff exhibited in all the major shows in his era: Salon d’Automne, Salon des Artistes Français, des Tuileries, des Indépendants, de Mai, des Peintres Témoins de leur Temps, de l’Ecole Française, de l’Art libre, de Comparaison, Salon des villes de menton, Chantilly, Romorantin, Mantes-la-Jolie, Juvisy, Asnières …

-Gold Medal of the French Artists - Sculpture Prize of the City of Paris in 1959
-Price of the Institute of France - Commander of Arts and Letters
-First Grand Prize Exhibition Free Art

Born in Bucharest January 30, 1894
Died in Paris January 22, 1978

See: savigny, montdemarsan

Jardin du Luxembourg

The Jardin du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Gardens, is the second largest public park in Paris (22.5 hectares) located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. The park is the garden of the French Senate, which is itself housed in the Luxembourg Palace.

See: Wikipedia

Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris, named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Erected in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair, it has become both a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tower is the tallest structure in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world; 7.1 million people ascended it in 2011. The tower received its 250 millionth visitor in 2010.

The tower stands 324 metres tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building. During its construction, the Eiffel Tower surpassed the Washington Monument to assume the title of the tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years, until the Chrysler Building in New York City was built in 1930. Because of the addition of the antenna atop the Eiffel Tower in 1957, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building by 5.2 meter. Not including broadcast antennas, it is the second-tallest structure in France, after the Millau Viaduct.

The tower has three levels for visitors. The third level observatory's upper platform is at 279.11 meter the highest accessible to the public in the European Union. Tickets can be purchased to ascend, by stairs or elevator, to the first and second levels. The walk from ground level to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the walk from the first to the second level. Although there are stairs to the third and highest level, these are usually closed to the public and it is usually accessible only by lift. The first and second levels have restaurants.

The tower has become the most prominent symbol of both Paris and France, often in the establishing shot of films set in the city.

See: Wikipedia

l'Hôtel national des Invalides

Les Invalides

Les Invalides, officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides (The National Residence of the Invalids), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l'Armée, the military museum of the Army of France, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine, as well as the burial site for some of France's war heroes, notably Napoleon Bonaparte.

History

Louis XIV initiated the project by an order dated 24 November 1670, as a home and hospital for aged and unwell soldiers: the name is a shortened form of hôpital des invalides. The architect of Les Invalides was Libéral Bruant. The selected site was in the then suburban plain of Grenelle (plaine de Grenelle). By the time the enlarged project was completed in 1676, the river front measured 196 metres and the complex had fifteen courtyards, the largest being the cour d'honneur ("court of honour") for military parades. It was then felt that the veterans required a chapel. Jules Hardouin Mansart assisted the aged Bruant, and the chapel was finished in 1679 to Bruant's designs after the elder architect's death. The chapel is known as Église Saint-Louis des Invalides. Daily attendance was required.

Shortly after the veterans' chapel was completed, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to construct a separate private royal chapel referred to as the Église du Dôme from its most striking feature. Inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the original for all Baroque domes, it is one of the triumphs of French Baroque architecture. Mansart raised its drum with an attic storey over its main cornice, and employed the paired columns motif in his more complicated rhythmic theme. The general programme is sculptural but tightly integrated, rich but balanced, consistently carried through, capping its vertical thrust firmly with a ribbed and hemispherical dome. The domed chapel is centrally placed to dominate the court of honour. It was finished in 1708.

The interior of the dome (107 meter of height) was painted by Le Brun's disciple Charles de La Fosse with a Baroque illusion of space (sotto in su) seen from below. The painting was completed in 1705.

Later history

Because of its location and significance, the Invalides served as the scene for several key events in French history. On 14 July 1789 it was stormed by Parisian rioters who seized the cannons and muskets stored in its cellars to use against the Bastille later the same day. Napoleon was entombed under the dome of the Invalides with great ceremony in 1840. In December 1894 the degradation of Captain Alfred Dreyfus was held before the main building, while his subsequent rehabilitation ceremony took place in a courtyard of the complex in 1906.

The building retained its primary function of a retirement home and hospital for military veterans (invalides) until the early twentieth century. In 1872 the musée d'artillerie (Artillery Museum) was located within the building to be joined by the musée historique des armées (Historical Museum of the Armies) in 1896. The two institutions were merged to form the present musée de l'armée in 1905. At the same time the veterans in residence were dispersed to smaller centres outside Paris. The reason was that the adoption of a mainly conscript army, after 1872, meant a substantial reduction in the numbers of veterans having the twenty or more years of military service formerly required to enter the Hôpital des Invalides. The building accordingly became too large for its original purpose. The modern complex does however still include the facilities detailed below for about a hundred elderly or incapacitated former soldiers.

Architecture

On the north front of Les Invalides Hardouin-Mansart's chapel dome is large enough to dominate the long façade, yet harmonizes with Bruant's door under an arched pediment. To the north, the courtyard (cour d'honneur) is extended by a wide public esplanade (Esplanade des Invalides) where the embassies of Austria and Finland are neighbours of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all forming one of the grand open spaces in the heart of Paris. At its far end, the Pont Alexandre III links this grand urbanistic axis with the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais. The Pont des Invalides is next, downstream the Seine river. The Hôpital des Invalides spurred William III of England to emulation, in the military Greenwich Hospital of 1694.

The buildings still comprise the Institution Nationale des Invalides, a national institution for disabled war veterans. The institution comprises:
- a retirement home
- a medical and surgical centre
- a centre for external medical consultations.

See: Wikipedia

Meat Market in Belém

The Meat Market and its history

The history of the Meat Market is old, dating back to 1867 when it was built in brickwork. The Municipal Market of Belém is a square between Rua November 16 and Boulevard Castilho França. Due to the intense commercial movement that taxed the newly opened Iron Market, or Fish Market, across the street, from 1901, local authorities felt the need to promote structural and sanitation improvements in the old building of the Municipal Market.

The works were entrusted to the engineer Francisco Bolonha, who, build a second floor with rooms for stocking products over old masonry building, installed in its courtyard a beautiful architectural ensemble of iron imported from Scotland, smelting Walter Macfarlane & Co., composed of four large pavilions, a small cottage and a structure that primarily served to support the water tank and which became, after disabled, a magnificent overlook with winding staircase. The inauguration of the new premises of the Municipal Market was held in December 17, 1908 and is intended mainly to marketing of meat came to be called, with time, the Meat Market.

This impressive example of architecture of the iron in Brazil is a must stop for anyone visiting Belém and demand to know a little of its history. It is noteworthy that the building was recently restored by the federal government.

See: Era do ferro

Casa de Haver o Peso

Ver-o-peso

Ver-o-peso market is a market hall in Belém, Brazil located at Guajará Bay riverside.

It is called "Ver-o-Peso" following a colonial era tradition, since the tax collector's main post was located there, which was called "Casa do Haver-o-peso" ("Have-the-Weight House"). It was in the "Haver-o-peso house" that the taxes over goods brought from the Amazon forests, rivers and countryside should be paid to the Portuguese crown, but only after their weight was measured, hence the name, which later suffered a contraction.

Nowadays, the Ver-o-peso complex contains the Açaí Fair, a free open market where açaí berry merchants sell the fruit in natura for açaí juice shops, the Clock Square, with an iron-cast clock tower brought from England, the Ver-o-peso docks, where native fishes from Amazon are unloaded from boats and sold fresh, the Iron Market, a gothic prefab structure where fish is sold, the Solar da Beira space, a colonial building where art expositions often take place, and the neoclassical Meat Market, across the street, with iron-cast stairs and cubicles. There's also the free market, where craftsmanship, natural essence parfums, typical food and native fruits are sold.

IIt is located a few meters away from Feliz Lusitânia complex, a gathering of 16th and 18th century buildings including a fortress, an old hospital transformed into a museum, and two churches: a baroque one where there is a sacred art museum, and Belém's cathedral.

All this area has been declared national patrimony by the National Historical Museum (Brazil). Around ten years ago, Ver-o-peso was bidding a place into UNESCO's list of world's human patrimonies, but it wasn't included and since then the City never tried again.

See: Wikipedia