The pyramids in the Louvre's Cour Napoléon, April 2018.
That all changed, of course, in the mid 1980s when President François Mitterrand initiated the Grand Louvre project, moved the finance ministry to a modern new building up river, renovated much of the palace to expand the museum and, most famously, commissioned I.M. Pei to design a new grand entrance to the complex. The pyramids and the underground entrance were the result. As most urban change is, the pyramid entrance was controversial. But I think it has stood the test of time and has taken its place as yet another icon of the city of light.
Unfortunately, the parking lot replaced a lovely little park à l'anglaise where sculptures were exhibited, notably Les Bourgeois de Calais by Rodin. Sic transit...
ReplyDeleteAlthough I've never been there, I have seen so many photos of the before and after (of course never as good as your photos). What a tremendous improvement!
ReplyDeleteI, too, remember the parking lot, and the old entrance. What a treat it was, living in Paris, and being able, as students, to go to the Louvre for free, whenever we wanted!
ReplyDeletechm, I'll have to hunt around to see if there are old photos of the park that was there, originally.
Judy, if you're interested, just google Statue de Gambetta à Paris. It used to stand just in front of that small park on the place du Carousel. The statue itself, in bronze, was removed by the Germans to use for their war efforts. Whenever I took a bus to the right bank, I used to pass by that small park. It was lovely!
DeleteMy memory played games on me and I googled Statue de Jules Ferry instead. Dont't get old, that's an order!
The statue of Gambette was not in bronze and was relocated elsewhere.
DeleteHere is an explanation in French:
À l'origine, le monument était composé d'un pylône pyramidal dont la base était décorée d'un ensemble de sculptures et cartouches en bronze. Sur la face avant, à mi-hauteur, la statue de pierre du héros devant le drapeau, entouré de plusieurs soldats et pointant une direction. Gravés sur le pylône les épisodes glorieux de la vie du grand homme et des extraits de ses discours, et au sommet, une allégorie en bronze de la Gloire de la démocratie assise sur un aigle aux ailes déployées. Inauguré en 1888 sur la place du Carrousel à Paris, il est démonté en 1954. Une partie du monument fut ré-assemblée et installée dans un square parisien. Une maquette du monument est conservée au musée d'Orsay.
Date 1888: inaugurated
I vound this in English:
The Gambetta monument did survive untouched until 1941. This year was a terrible one for statues in the city as the Vichy government stripped the metal from all monuments not celebrating saints and royalty for the purposes of agricultural and industrial production (weapons!). Without the bronze figure at the top of the plinth, the statue could not survive, and it was removed altogether in 1954.
If it's more convenient, you can also google Gambetta Monument and click on Images.
DeleteYou can also google Place du Carousel or check the website ruesdeparis.com and look for place du Carousel. Once again, TMI?
DeleteHopefully, last comment for today! It is amazing that, on the internet, depending on how you label a question, you get different results!
Deletechm, and I wonder what that replaced... lol!
ReplyDeletemitch, it's a sight to see!
judy, hard to imagine what it's like to be a student in Paris now...